The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.29           August 30, 1999 
 
 
Shipyard Workers `Hold Our Heads High'
Newport News strikers inspire others in region  

BY MARY MARTIN
NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia-After a four-month strike against Newport News Shipbuilding, Inc., members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 8888 approved a new contract July 30, by a vote of 2,724 to 1,696. The shipbuilders wrested improved pensions and the first pay raise since 1991 from the country's largest private shipyard and the only builder of nuclear-powered U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.

James Riggs, an outside machinist with 23 years, told the Militant after his first day back to work, "We've done something. We're moving in the right direction. We can hold our heads up high. The thing is we have to be ready to strike again down the road if necessary."

The 9,200 production workers covered by the agreement won pay raises averaging 23 percent and a pension increase of 78 percent. Prior to the strike, their wages and pensions were among the lowest among the top 11 shipyards in the country, with wages averaging $13.50 per hour and maximum pensions after 30 years employment at $500 per month. Under the new contract, most workers will see a $2.30 to $3.10 per hour wage increase by the end of the 58-month contract. Monthly pensions will increase to $900 in the same period.

On voting day, many striking workers gathered outside the polling locations set up by union officials in Newport News and Ahoskie, North Carolina, with copies of the inch-thick contract text in hand, to discuss with each other what course of action to take. In Newport News, with the shipyard's giant overhead cranes lifeless in the background, some workers pointed to the length of the contract and the return-to-work period of up to four weeks as their main objections. The company can take up to 28 days to give drug tests, physical exams, and re-qualify welders and other workers.

Lonnell Thompson, with 19 years in the shipyard, told the Virginia Pilot he voted against the offer. "That's not a first- class contract," he said. "It's second-class. Within five years it'll probably be third-class."

A long-prepared battle
Steelworkers here began gearing up for a fight months before the walkout. An organizing drive that involved substantial rank-and-file participation brought the union strength up to a record 83 percent by the time of the strike. Some 2,000 shipyard workers rallied in a show of unity on January 26 that halted traffic for 45 minutes, and another 4,000 marched on March 18 to let the company know they intended to fight for a substantial pay raise.

The brewing shipyard fight overlapped with an upturn in the ongoing struggle by farmers in this region to keep farming or recover farm land lost through governmental discrimination in loans and credit, as well as the workings of the capitalist market. This fight included the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture that demanded relief from discriminatory acts and return of lost lands to farmers who are Black.

In a lawsuit settlement meeting held by government officials in early June near Richmond, Virginia, at least three of the 75 farm family members present were either currently on strike or recently retired from the shipyard. Another farmer told the Militant how years ago his father and uncles worked during the week in the shipyard and came home on weekends to keep the farm going.

Within the ranks of the striking shipbuilders, who are in their majority Black, were veterans of the 1979 strike that won union recognition and established USWA Local 8888. It was a hard-fought strike that included police attacks on the picket lines and union hall. As many of the veterans of that strike recount, that battle marked the beginning of forging new unity between Black and white workers in the union and in the yard. In turn, the impetus for the union drive was the growing confidence gained by a layer of workers who were Black who had participated in the civil rights movement. A layer of these veterans of 1979 continued in a rank-and-file leadership role this strike, taking initiatives that drew in many others.

Support from other workers
For three weeks during their walkout, the Local 8888 members were joined by nearly 8,000 fellow shipyard workers who struck Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. "Good news, to Newport News, Ingalls workers want money too!" read one sign at the Mississippi picket line. Striking Newport News workers on the picket lines expressed their solidarity and encouragement to the striking workers in Mississippi.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 733, one of the striking unions at Ingalls, sent $500 to the Local 8888 strike. The Ingalls strike ended with the workers receiving a modest wage increase, holding down the amount of an insurance premium hike, and by their own account coming out stronger.

As one of the largest employers in the region, what happens at the shipyard has reverberations in companies throughout the region, and is watched closely by many workers. At the large Norshipco Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, which repairs and refurbishes commercial and military ships, workers welcomed the news of the contract settlement at Newport News. Joe McGinty, with five years left before he retires at Norshipco, said the Steelworkers at Newport News "went from $500 a month pension to $900 after 30 years working; right now if I retire after 30 years, Íd get $300 per month. This means when our contract comes up in two years, I can look to the possibility of getting something better."

Many workers in the region who are trying to win union recognition also take strength from the fight of the Local 8888 Steelworkers. One of them Gayle Minor, a production worker at Newport News, Inc., a mail order processing facility, said one union organizing drive at the worksite a few years ago failed, and now the Steelworkers are trying to organize the facility. She said she looked to Local 8888 workers to start to close the pay gap between workers doing the same work at shipyards in the North and South. "If we had a union here, maybe we could deal with things like the different pay between full-time and part-time workers. I feel if you do the same work you should get the same pay, not several dollars less an hour. Another thing that needs to be addressed is the heat and dust we work in."

Workers at the giant Purdue poultry processing plant in Lewiston, North Carolina, a couple hours from Newport News, are also engaged in a fight for a union. The UFCW has lost previous organizing drives there in recent years. One worker at Purdue who was watching the strike closely is Mary Ann Granger, who is married to a Local 8888 member. Granger was recently fired from Purdue because of repetitive motion injuries sustained on the job. She is waging a battle to get reinstated. Along with a handful of other workers, some also fired and some still working, she is seeking to bring attention to the need to defend workers victimized for on-the- job injuries. Recently she and a couple of her co-workers gave out 1,500 leaflets at the plant gate addressing this issue.

Regarding the Newport News strike, Granger said, "You know Purdue had its eye on the shipyard strike all this time too. Many of the people who work in the plant have family in the shipyard. The shipyard workers showed you can get something accomplished if you stick together."

Navy backs shipyard bosses
Throughout the strike, the shipyard bosses were cushioned from the full impact of the strike by the continued stream of contract payments from the U.S. Navy. The company conduct aimed at breaking the strike included cutting off medical insurance to the Steelworkers and their families on May 1 and an attempt to lure workers to cross the picket line with a promise of an immediate $1-per-hour wage increase. The yard's hard stance in negotiations was framed by its agreement with the Navy to slash labor and material costs by $360 million in its military contracts over the next five years.

The USWA officials' arrangement on strike benefits also made things harder for striking workers. Strikers had to bring in their bills and justify to committees of other striking workers why a bill should be paid, and prove they had no other means of paying them. Many viewed this as invasion of privacy and would have preferred cash.

Nevertheless some 6,000 steelworkers stayed out on strike and organized to reach out for solidarity from other workers through expanded picket lines; a rally on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., April 21; and a rally in Richmond outside the company's stockholders meeting on June 25. The Steelworkers also set up floating picket lines, boat patrols maintained by striking workers in private boats that patrolled the James River to keep an eye on the backside of the shipyard and make sure the company did not bring scabs in to work by water.

Brian Ribblet, a welder, told the Militant the union presence in the yard is very visible now. "There is a sea of union hats, now when you go into work," he said. "I'm making a point to wear mine every day for now."

Neil Strum, Jr., an electrician, had this to say on what lies ahead for union members coming out of the strike. "Some say the fight is over. I say the fight is only beginning to organize the union better and stronger. Not only in the yard but in the many nonunion places all over this region."

Mary Martin is a member of International Association of Machinists Local 1759.

 
 
 
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