BY TONY DUTROW
GRAMERCY, Louisiana - State troopers lining U.S. Highway 61
looked on as 200 Steelworkers and their supporters converged on
Kaiser Aluminum's main gate here June 27. The few guards on
duty glowered at the orderly protest by unionists massed
outside the company property line. Shouts of "One day longer"
and "Negotiate or liquidate" followed a brief rally at the
gate.
One truck rumbled up to the gate, the crowd parted, and the driver was allowed to pass through after 45 seconds. A local court injunction allows pickets to stop each vehicle going in or out for that amount of time. The same injunction allows for mass pickets at the gate, though only a lone picket may walk in front of a vehicle. Three thousand members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in Washington State, Ohio, and Louisiana have been fighting for a contract with Kaiser Aluminum since they hit the picket lines in October. In January Kaiser locked out the workers after they offered to return to work and has refused to negotiate on its demands for steep job cuts, gutting of seniority rights, and minuscule pay raises despite hefty givebacks over the years in wages and pensions.
As the Kaiser workers set up for the rally, a caravan of strikers and supporters joined them, including a busload of 40 members of USWA Local 303L on strike at Titan Tire in Natchez, Mississippi. "I think if everybody stands together and strikes together, we'll be stronger than we've ever been," commented Nathaniel Tenner from USWA Local 303L. "Everyone out here today makes you feel that much stronger." The Natchez workers were forced on strike last September after Titan Tire boss Maurice Taylor bought the plant, formerly Fidelity Tire, and demanded deep concessions from the local. They joined Titan workers in Des Moines, Iowa, who have been on strike since May 1998.
A carload of supporters from Texas included two refinery workers who have been locked out at Crown Central Petroleum in Pasadena for three and a half years. Two women from the USWA Local 2122 women's committee traveled from the US Steel Fairfield works near Birmingham, Alabama. Among the workers from Louisiana who came were teachers from the area, returning the solidarity they have received over the years from the Kaiser local during their strikes. Four workers from the Newark, Ohio, Kaiser local traveled here to be part of the event.
After the action at the gate, everyone caravaned back to the St. James Boat Club for a rally and Jambalaya dinner, prepared by the Steelworkers, a Cajun and Creole specialty in this region. Several hundred Steelworkers, their supporters, and family members packed the hall.
"We need these kind of events to keep up our spirits," said Roy Blank, a machinist with nine years at the Gramercy plant who volunteered that day to work as a food server. "When you're walking the picket line you don't get to see everyone in one place.... If you don't do things like this - they [the company] think we went away."
A busload of Avondale shipyard workers joined the meeting carrying their banner "Justice for Avondale" into the hall. David Walker, a welder with 15 years at the shipyard, told the Militant, "We are the Rodney Dangerfield of the shipyard workers. We get no respect." He was referring to the fact that Avondale is at the bottom pay scale of all the Navy yards. Walker talked about their six-year effort to get union recognition. Workers voted to join the union in 1993. Since then "the Navy paid Avondale $5 million to cover legal fees to fight our union," Walker said. The exposure of this recently in the New Orleans press prompted a recent protest in behalf of Avondale workers.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that 200 ministers filed a petition in behalf of the Metal Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. The Religious Leaders for Justice at Avondale called upon the secretary of the Navy to investigate unsafe working conditions in the yard and antilabor practices by Avondale industries, and urged the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to reject Avondale Industries's challenge of the 1993 vote.
Meanwhile, on July 2 the Times-Picayune reported that OSHA has cited Avondale Industries for failing to keep proper reports on workers' injuries and illness for a four-year period, 1995-98. In the first phase of this investigation in April, Avondale was hit with 60 citations and fined $537,000. For workers at Avondale this is a life or death question. In addition to a high injury rate, 34 workers have died in the yard since 1974.
Gregory Bridges, a leader of the organizing drive at the shipyard, gave greetings and solidarity to the Kaiser workers. "It's the people themselves, like you, who are the most important. Support from our union officials and others is important, but we have to stick together in our struggle," Bridges said.
Dave Locklin gave greetings from Spokane, Washington, Locals 329 and 338. Pointing to the Avondale workers in the rear, he asked everyone to support their fight. "If we last one day longer, we will crumble the company. The fight is not just in our plant, but throughout the country," Locklin said. "Justice for Kaiser, Justice for Titan Tire, Justice for Crown, Justice for Avondale!"
Other speakers at the St. James Boat Club rally included representatives from Kaiser locals in Newark, Ohio, Tacoma, Washington, and Gramercy; the Natchez, Mississippi, Titan Tire local; John Bourg, Louisiana State AFL-CIO president; Jon Youngdahl, USWA staff organizer; and Dave Hymel, St. James Parish president.
The Wall Street Journal reported June 28 that among five major aluminum producers, Alcoa may be the only one to show increase in profits over the last year. Kaiser Aluminum, it notes, will post the largest loss, 23 cents a share, versus 21 cent increase the previous year. "Kaiser has been hurt by a strike at some of its plants, as well as lower aluminum prices," the article explains.
Tony Dutrow is a member of International Brotherhood of Electronic Workers Local 716 in Houston.