BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia - More than 4,000 striking
Steelworkers packed the Hampton University Convocation Center
July 23 to hear about and discuss a tentative contract
agreement between negotiators for United Steelworkers of
America (USWA) Local 8888 and Newport News Shipbuilding,
reached a few hours before.
At this meeting, and over the course of the next week, Steelworkers who have been on strike for 16 weeks have been discussing and debating the contract, what's been accomplished through this strike, what more can be won, and how best to strengthen the union in its ongoing fight against the company.
The ratification vote, originally scheduled for July 27, has been postponed until July 30, in order to allow local members to receive and read the entire contract. Voting will take place at two locations: in Newport News, and in Ahoskie, North Carolina, where a large number of shipbuilders organized by Local 8888 live.
The July 23 gathering was no ordinary union meeting. It lasted at least five hours. Many strikers got there plenty early with discussions going on everywhere - inside and outside the auditorium. Going into the meeting the mood among thousands of these workers was open minded but determined to win "a world-class contract."
"If you don't stand up for your rights the company will mow you down," stated Bill Bailey, a rigger with 21 years at the yard, on his way into the meeting.
A handful of striking workers held up hand-made signs outside the Convocation Center saying, "Vote No to third- class contract." They attracted a lot of attention and some skeptical questions from the workers streaming into the meeting who knew nothing about the proposed settlement. Since the resumption of federally mediated negotiations on July 7, the union and company agreed to maintain a total blackout on the status of the talks.
There was a strong reaction by many of those at the meeting against the length of the proposed agreement: nearly five years. The 58-month contract would raise the average hourly yard worker's pay by $3.10 by the year 2004. It would immediately hike pensions for those with 30 years of service from the current average of $506 a month to $750 per month, and to $900 per month by January 2002. The union was seeking a $3.70 per hour wage boost over three years and an immediate boost of pensions to $900.
A big point of contention is the fact that the company can take up to 28 days to call workers back. Workers will be required to take a drug test and physical examination as well as requalifying on their jobs as welders, pipefitters, and for nuclear work.
"I think they're trying to push this contract down our throats," stated Mike Lee, a material supplier with 12 years at the yard. "It's almost the same contract we walked out over. The pensions went up but the wage increase amounts to only 62 cents [per hour each year] - 12 cents more than what we walked for."
"I think we can get better than this if we stay out longer and keep fighting," was the reaction from Michael Porter, a pipefitter with 16 years seniority. "I hope everyone will say no."
"This is probably the best we're going to get," commented James Ward, also with 16 years at the yard. "There's still a whole lot missing, like no provision for early out [for retirees]."
Majority Black workforce
Shipyard workers at Newport News, a majority of whom are
Black, are among the lowest paid in the industry. According
to the AFL-CIO, Newport News Shipbuilding ranks second to the
bottom in average wages at $12.00 per hour. Avondale
Industries in Louisiana is at the bottom at $9.45 per hour.
Electric Boat in Connecticut is at $15.73. Pearl Harbor in
Hawaii tops the list at $21.74.
The previous four contracts at Newport News prior to the current proposal provided minimal average wages increases - a total of $4.33 over the past 16 years. This breaks down into $1.13 per hour in the 1983 contract, $1.48 per hour in the 1987 contract, $1.72 in the 1991 contract, and no increase in 1995.
"In five years, we're still going to be five years behind everybody else," stated Gerald Blose, a mechanic at the yard, in an interview with the Virginia Pilot.
Prince Brown, who has four children, objected to the fact that under this contract the weekly cost of his health insurance premium would double to $23.80. And that's only for the first year. The contract also fails to restore the vacation time and holidays that were taken from the workers in the last contract.
Workers at the lower end of the production pay scale and support employees -those doing janitorial and maintenance work - get even smaller raises in the range of $2.30 to $2.70 per hour, well below the $3.10 average. "Some people only get a $2.50 raise over the life of the contract and that's not right," stated Steve Moton, with 10 years at the shipyard. "It's not a contract for the future. A lot can happen in five years, taxes can go up, the cost of living can rise. A three- year contract is better."
Virginia is a so-called right-to-work state, so workers are not obligated to join the Steelworkers even though the union has won the right to represent all 9,200 of them. Leading up to the strike and through the early days of the walkout, union membership soared to some 8,000 members - more than 85 percent of those eligible to join. During the course of the strike some 2,000 workers went back.
`Let's talk contract'
International USWA president George Becker addressed the
contract meeting in a session open to the media. He began his
speech to a chorus of boos from many of the Steelworkers in
the audience. "You lasted one day longer," stated Becker.
Many Steelworkers objected to his use of the past tense in talking about the strike. He condemned the Navy for helping the yard by paying strike-related expenses. Becker vowed that the U.S.S. Enterprise nuclear aircraft carrier, which is scheduled to arrive at the Newport News shipyard for repairs in early August, will be met by a floating picket line if the Steelworkers are still without a contract at that time.
Becker hailed as one of the great events of the decade the struggle by shipyard workers in Gdansk, Poland, in the early 1990s, which he claimed brought down communism in Poland and the rest of Europe. His pro-war talk hailed the Enterprise, which was a staging ground for military assaults against Iraq and Yugoslavia, as "the symbol of democracy." As Becker continued his talk along these lines, a number of workers in the audience shouted out, "Let's talk contract."
Thousands of Steelworkers were set to march on Washington, D.C., July 23 to demand "Stop Navy Strikebreaking." The day before the demonstration, however, union officials called off the protest, saying that negotiators were close to a tentative agreement. The mass union meeting at Hampton University was scheduled for that day instead. On the evening of July 22 USWA Local 8888 also took down their picket lines by the shipyard gates. Both of these moves were quite unpopular among a large number of strikers.
The union had reserved some 30 buses to bring striking Steelworkers to the D.C. protest against government strikebreaking. In addition, a number of buses were set to roll from around the country to bring Steelworkers and other working people to the action as an act of solidarity and support for the shipyard workers fight. These were to include a couple of buses from Charlotte, North Carolina, full of Steelworkers who have been on strike against Continental General Tire since September.
Striking workers resumed picketing at some gates July 27. A young sailor leaving work that day stopped at the 50th Street picket line and asked, "Are you guys on strike or not on strike? The newspaper says its over."
"We're on strike until we vote on our contract, which is on Friday," July 30, explained George and Brian, two pickets who asked that their last names not be used. "We don't have a gate captain or a radio, but we're here to let the company know it's not over til it's over," they explained.
Navy still pushes for cuts
An unnamed Navy official quoted in the Daily Press said
the proposed settlement at the nation's largest private
shipyard will not affect the agreement the yard struck with
the Navy in the midst of the strike to slash $360 million
over the next five years in labor and material costs.
Defense Secretary William Cohen made clear in a letter he wrote to congressmen that the Pentagon is determined to push this through. "If Newport News can't demonstrate lower costs over the next few years, the Department would be open to more far-reaching solutions," the letter stated.
At a USWA Local 8888 picnic held at the Newport News Park July 25, workers had a chance to discuss their thoughts since the contract meeting two days earlier.
"The company used this contract to divide us," stated Marvin Harris, a welder with 18 years at the plant. "The older guys who are about to retire got something and the people in the lower grades who haven't seen any raise in years got something. But there's nothing in it for many of us in the middle."
Edward Haynes, who has 20 years in the plant, said he doesn't like the contract but intends to vote for it. "We've lost a lot of money and I don't see what would be gained by staying out much longer," he said. "It's not just the company but they also have the government on their side. The whole system is against us."
Alma Thomas, with 24 years at the yard, stated, "This agreement has already been signed and endorsed like it's a done deal. I feel they shouldn't have done that until we approved it. I think it's pretty good. We probably couldn't get anything more."
One sign put up on display on the picnic said, "Don't Vote No. Vote Hell No - to a five-year contract, to a four-week return time. We left as one. We return as one."
"They [the union officials] canceled the rally in Washington, D.C., because they said we hadn't had a paycheck in too long," stated Tami Cato who has worked at the yard for 19 years. "If they're so concerned about us not having a paycheck then why are they giving the shipyard four weeks to bring us in?"
Debra Stansfield, with 19 years, said of the contract, "There's a lot of good points, but so many more bad. I have to look to the future and the long run. We're putting our lives on the line and they want to throw peanuts at us and make us mad."
One striker who didn't want his name used pointed out how much he has changed through the course of this fight. "We've gained mentally and socially more than financially," he said. "I didn't grasp until lately the impact and bigger implication of this strike. Íd like to go to Avondale shipyard where they're fighting for a union and show my support."
Brian Williams is a member of the USWA in Sparrows Point, Maryland. Mary Martin and Janice Lynn, members of the International Association of Machinists in Washington, D.C.; Sam Manuel, a member of the United Transportation Union in D.C.; and Salm Kolis, a member of the USWA in Pittsburgh, contributed to this article.