Jointly organized by the Steelworkers, Earth First, and other environmental groups, the May 17-19 protests included marches and rallies, a strategy conference, and a protest at the Maxxam annual stockholders meeting. Maxxam, the parent company of Kaiser Aluminum, is headquartered here. Maxxam also owns Pacific Lumber, which has been clearcutting redwood forests.
Three thousand workers from five USWA locals have been battling Kaiser Aluminum for over seven months. In January Kaiser locked out the striking workers and has refused to negotiate. The bosses are demanding elimination of 800 jobs under a proposed contract that would not increase wages or pensions, despite concessions workers made over previous contracts.
Hundreds of locked-out Kaiser workers and supporters lined the street in front of Maxxam board chairman Charles Hurwitz's posh, high-rise apartment May 17. Billed as a candlelight vigil, the event quickly took on the tone of a boisterous strike picket line. Houston police in cruisers and on horseback spread out in front of the complex gate and glared at the disciplined protesters.
The next day, 300 steelworkers, environmental activists, and unionists joined a two-mile march to the Maxxam headquarters. Whitney Jasmin, who came as part of a busload of 39 workers from USWA Local 5702 in Gramercy, commented, "Today was very successful, very orderly, and showed Maxxam the solidarity we have among ourselves and with other organizations." Maxxam will take note that "we will be leaving here with a very high morale" to continue the battle, he said.
Solidarity from Crown oil workers
At a rally following the march, Alvin Freeman gave greetings
to the steelworkers from members of Paper, Allied-Industrial,
Chemical and Energy Workers Local 4-227 who are locked out at
Crown Central Petroleum in Pasadena, Texas. Comparing his
experiences over the three years of their lockout, Freeman
said, "We've been kicked out of stockholders meetings and the
company had the FBI harass us and try to frame us up."
Other speakers at the rally included Harris County Green Party chairman David Cobb, Darryl Cherney from Earth First, and David Foster, director of USWA District 11.
Other unionists and supporters attending the events included two USWA members from an auto parts plant in Oklahoma; a Reynolds Aluminum worker from Portland, Oregon; two electricians from Houston IBEW Local 716; and five members of Crown Local 4-277, as well as other local unionists. Five students scraped together gas money and drove in from University of Texas in Austin.
Nancy Johnson was among six women who came from USWA Local 341 in Newark. While riding on the bus back from the protest at the stockholders meeting, she described what it was like when she hired in as one of five women at the Kaiser plant in 1973.
Working in the remelt shop for 14 years, one of the toughest and dirtiest jobs, was a challenge at first. "There were no women's restrooms in the work area and no bath house." Johnson said she was forced to change clothes in her car. When the bosses complained about this, she stood her ground and they ultimately installed showers.
Johnson was the food coordinator for the April 24 rally Local 341 held in Newark and has traveled to spread the word about the fight at Kaiser. She and other local union members visited the MSI picket lines in Ohio during a strike by USWA members there. Activity by the "road warriors," as workers like Johnson are known, has included tracking down customers of Kaiser in Ohio and Kentucky, making them aware of the lockout. This "corporate campaign" was the focus of a workshop May 18.
"You take away our seniority, retest us on our jobs, cap our medical care and retirement, while our work tears up our body," said Rich Dolph from the floor mike at the stockholders meeting May 19. His remarks were directed at Hurwitz. Dolph, with 11 years in the Tacoma plant, was one of the many workers able to take the floor.
Maxxam stockholders meeting
"Are you our Frank Lorenzo and will there no longer be a
Kaiser Aluminum?" he demanded of Hurwitz, comparing the board
chairman to the boss of Eastern Airlines, where members of the
International Association of Machinists (IAM) waged a 17-month
strike in 1989-91, ultimately driving Lorenzo's company out of
the business.
Cindy Allsbrook also spoke. Her 24-year-old son, David Nathan Chain, was killed protesting Pacific Lumber's destruction of the California redwood forests. "Mr. Hurwitz, my son was killed in Grizzly Creek for what he believed in. I taught my children to put out a fire even it meant trespassing to do it," she said.
Hurwitz evaded answering these charges by boasting about the Headwaters Forest agreement brokered by the Clinton Administration last March. In that deal the government organized to purchase 7,500 acres of old-growth redwoods from Pacific Lumber - a fraction of the standing trees. The buyout totaled $480 million.
Hurwitz also disputed charges by the union and environmentalist groups that Pacific Lumber's logging operations and mills have devastated the area around Humboldt County, California. Hurwitz bragged of the houses, schools, libraries, and churches Maxxam has built there. Steelworkers note that these are classic company towns.
Other speakers at the meeting appealed to the board to make Maxxam and Kaiser more profitable by electing to the board former Ohio Democratic senator Howard Metzenbaum and New York Judge Abner Mikva. Nominations for the two were made by USWA officials and stockholders.
Heavy cop presence
Looking back at the metal detectors in the lobby of the swank
Waterwood Country Club where the stockholders meeting took
place, 70 miles north of Houston, Matt Miller of Local 341 told
the Militant, "Getting in here was like getting into Fort
Knox."
At least 40 cops including sheriffs, state troopers, and Texas rangers were on the site. Everyone entering the premises was forced to show picture identification and had their names put on a list.
"Two cops were at the door of each of our five buses, checking ID as we got off," declared Dave Crampton. Once inside, "you had to go through metal detectors. No umbrellas or cameras were allowed inside," he said. Crampton, a Kaiser worker from Newark, had spent several weeks in Houston building the events.
During the three days of activities, most of the platforms were shared by union officials and representatives of environmental groups. For example, the strategy conference featured David Foster, USWA District 11 and chief negotiator for the Kaiser Aluminum workers and David Brower, former executive director of the Sierra Club.
In addition to the workshop on the corporate campaign, another took place entitled "Fair Trade vs. Free Trade."
Jim Jontz of the American Lands Alliance led that workshop. He argued that the World Trade Organization has set up laws that stand above nation-states and in relation to the United States it "violates its rights as a sovereign nation," echoing many rightist and nationalist politicians, including Patrick Buchanan. Unionists were urged to protest the WTO, which will be meeting in Seattle in late November 1999.
At a May 18 public forum on "Sustainable Jobs and the Environment," speakers included Leo Gerard, International Secretary Treasurer of the USWA; Lori Wallach, an attorney for Ralph Nader's consumer advocacy group; and Cindy Allsbrook. Julia Butterfly Hill, who has been sitting in a redwood tree for nearly two years to protest Pacific Lumber's deforestation, spoke to the gathering by cell phone.
Kaiser workers plan to come back to Houston for the June 8 Kaiser Aluminum stockholders meeting. Gramercy workers announced they will have a rally June 27.
Nancy Johnson summed up what the locked-out Kaiser workers had accomplished over the three days. "I think this has been great. Even if it doesn't mean anything to Charles Hurwitz, it shows the community - everyone - we're behind the union and in the fight."
Tony Dutrow is a member of IBEW Local 716. Lea Sherman is a member of IAM Local 15.