We invite you to contribute short items to this column as a way for other fighting workers around the world to read about and learn from these important struggles. Jot down a few lines about what is happening in your union, at your workplace, or other workplaces in your area, including interesting political discussions.  
 

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota —Unionists won an important victory here October 19 when six hotel workers involved in a union organizing drive were released from custody hours before they were to be deported to Mexico. They were among eight workers seized by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on October 13 after the hotel management told the immigration cops that the workers may not have legal documents. The other two housekeepers arrested were released right away because they have children.

The release came the day after some 200 unionists and others held a spirited protest outside the Holiday Inn in downtown Minneapolis. Members from many unions participated and Bernard Bremmer, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, spoke, as did representatives from the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees; the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union; and the Holy Rosary Church. Students from the University of Minnesota in Morris, located in western Minnesota, and Macalester College in St. Paul also participated.

The arrested workers had signed cards authorizing an August 26 election that made Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 17 the representative of 23 Holiday Inn workers. Local 17 organizes hotel and restaurant workers in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Following the arrests the union filed an unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board on October 15.

The charge argued that federal law doesn't distinguish between workers with and without documents in labor disputes, and that the hotel bosses' action was a move to try to halt union organization. The newly formed union and the hotel are scheduled to begin negotiations for a contract next month. The negotiating committee for the workers at Holiday Inn includes some of the arrested workers.

Following the workers' release scores of supporters gathered at Holy Rosary Church for a celebration and news conference and to hear the workers' accounts of their detention. Reyna Albino, one of the arrested workers, said they wanted a union in order to get higher pay and more rights. But the arrests "made us feel like criminals, like bad people, that we did something wrong, when all we were doing was working."

In releasing the workers, Curtis Aljets, director of the INS's St. Paul district reflected the pressure the immigration agency was getting. He said that he will be more careful in the future to make sure the INS doesn't get involved in labor disputes. "Obviously we got caught up in more than we bargained for," he said.  
 

Hawaii dock workers press fight for contract

SAN FRANCISCO — Dock workers on Hawaii's ports are stepping up their effort to win a new union contract from the shipping companies' Hawaii Employers Council. The 500 members of International Longshoremen's and Warehouse-men's Union (ILWU) Local 142 have been working under an extension of their old contract, which had expired along with the West Coast ILWU contracts on June 30. Local 142 is demanding a contract similar to the one signed by the West Coast shipowners in July.

[A tentative contract was announced October 25. No vote has been set, and ILWU Local 142 members remain on the job. No details of the contract had been made public at press time.]

Workers on the islands of Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii authorized strike action. Union officials announced that the contract extension would end October 25, after a federal judge ordered the ILWU to end a work slowdown that was said to have delayed unloading of shipments of everything from fresh food to cars.

Newspapers and television report that panic buying of food and supplies has swept Hawaii in the face of the possibility of a strike on the docks. Stores such as Wal-Mart have limited customer purchases. Hawaii receives some 90 percent of its goods via ship.

Although there has not been a great deal of improvement in Hawaii's economy, profits are up for the shipping companies there. Cargo traffic increased by 7 percent over 1998. Shipping giant Matson Navigation Co. announced a 35 percent increase in profits for the third quarter of 1999, raking in $21.9 million.

Over the past year, Matson has enjoyed a monopoly on shipments of cars to the islands, which also contributed to its increased revenues. Nevertheless, Matson's owners explain that they wanted to downplay these figures as talks continued with the ILWU.  
 

Ontario woodworkers reject contract proposal

The 380 members of Local 500 of the Industrial Wood & Allied Workers Union on strike against Interforest Ltd, a specialty veneer plant in Durham, Ontario, have just rejected a new contract offer by a vote of 263-218. This is despite new Ontario labor legislation that granted the 172 nonunionized scabs who are working in the plant the right to vote on the offer.

The day after the vote results were announced, the company fired 35 strikers. One of the fired workers, Ryan McCubbin, told the Militant, "These firings only show that the company is hurting. They have already backfired on the company, because we're more determined than ever to stand firm and to protect our union. After four months on strike, the fight has really only started now."

Doug Jenness, a member of the United Steelworkers of America in St. Paul, Minnesota; Jim Altenberg, a member of the United Transportation Union in San Francisco; and Sylvie Charbin, a member of the International Association of Machinists in Toronto, contributed to this column.  
 
 
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