BY KRISTIN MERIAM
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi - "Good news to Newport News, Ingalls
workers want money too!" declares a picket sign posted at the
main gate of Ingalls Shipbuilding in this Gulf Coast town. With
11,500 workers, it's Mississippi's largest private employer.
Eight thousand workers, members of 11 of the 13 unions at Ingalls, are now on strike. The International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 1133 set up picket lines May 16. Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 733 struck May 19, and the Metal Trades Council walked out the next day. Security guards and office workers ratified their contracts and most remain on the job.
This is the second major shipyard strike now under way in the United States. Members of United Steelworkers of America Local 8888 at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia have been on strike since April 5.
The Ingalls workers rejected a contract proposal that included wage increases along with increases in health insurance premiums and co-payments. The company offered a 93- cent hourly raise for the first year of the three-year contract, 50 cents for the second year, and 47 cents for the third year. Strikers are demanding greater wage increases, totaling $3 over three years, especially since they haven't had a raise in six years.
High-voltage electrician and IBEW member Ernest Moore said, "$1.90 raise [over three years] is the best offer we've ever had, but it's seven years too late."
"Besides, $1.90 is only for the top labor grade," added William Box. "Everyone else gets a percentage of that."
Insurance was a sore point with many of the pickets who spoke with Militant reporters May 22. They said Ingalls is self- insured and has made $12 million off the insurance plan. According to strikers, the company had promised to use any profits from the health insurance to lower premiums and increase benefits for employees, but now the company is demanding workers pay even more - an additional $10 a month, in each year, for the duration of the contract.
Workers are confident Ingalls can afford to pay higher wages. Several pickets pointed to the $6 billion bid by Litton, the parent company of Ingalls, to buy the Newport News and Avondale shipyards. "Now is the time to strike," said Moore, "The company's making money, the sun is shining, the fish are biting."
"And other people are hiring!" chimed in Teresa Nelson, a shop steward in the Pipefitters union. Many of the strikers have already found jobs at nearby shipyards, including Friede Goldman, a nonunion company adjacent to Ingalls that builds offshore oil rigs. Consequently, workers don't feel much pressure to settle the strike quickly.
This is the first strike at Ingalls since 1974, Nelson told the Militant.
"In '74 the womenfolk made us go back," said Moore.
"But now the women work here too. We're all on strike this time," Nelson responded.
Women make up "about half " of the workforce said Shamika Straight, a 24-year-old painter with almost two years at Ingalls.
While specific safety measures are apparently not on the bargaining table, many strikers expressed concern about inadequate ventilation and flimsy walkways, and said they consider safety to be an issue in the strike.
IBEW member Tim Gorajec said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration "(OSHA) considers Ingalls one of the safest shipyards in the country. I hate to think what conditions are at some of the other shipyards!"
In adequate ventilation, high temperatures, and welding gases create hazardous conditions, sometimes resulting in workers passing out. An argon leak caused the deaths of four workers, the Militant was told.
Shipbuilding, he continued, is the second most dangerous industry in the United States, trailing only high steel [skyscraper construction].
"They have no system to check argon lines. There is no inspection system. It is an odorless, colorless, tasteless gas" explained Gorajec. "You don't know if there is a leak until it is too late," he added.
James Bolan, an electrical apprentice for two years, said, "The bottom line is the company is worried about how much profit it makes, not about the people."
Bolan said workers are reprimanded and treated "like children."
"I am sick and tired of it," he said. "It is all about respect; we have not been getting what we deserve."
The spirit of the strike is expressed on buttons saying "Show us the money!" and picket signs reading "Peanuts are for elephants," "No pay St. PE'" (referring to company CEO Jerry St. Pé), and "If you're not union, join us now!"
Strikers here are aware of the Newport News strike and the ongoing fight to win union recognition at Avondale shipyard in New Orleans. Striking IBEW Local 733 has expressed its solidarity with the strikers at Newport News, sending them a contribution of $500.
Kristin Meriam is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 12014 in Birmingham, Alabama.