The 675 workers, members of Local 322 of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union (GMP), walked out when the previous contract expired May 3. Auburn Foundry bosses immediately moved to bring in strikebreakers to try to keep production going.

Several strikers pointed to divide-and-rule tactics the bosses have been using in attempts to break the strike. Mechanic Harvey Thompson explained that the company proposed a sizable wage increase for maintenance mechanics, but virtually none for laborers, grinders, and other production workers. The employers have gone to the Black community in nearby Fort Wayne, Indiana, to hire many of its strikebreakers; few Blacks worked at Auburn before the walkout. Strikers also pointed out that women are now being hired as scabs, whereas almost none worked here before. In addition, more than 100 of the original strikers have crossed the picket lines and returned to work.

GMP corresponding representative Dan Irvin said union negotiators have recently reached tentative agreement with the company on most issues. The bosses, however, now say they will take back only 75 of the strikers, and fewer than that if the union does not sign an agreement immediately.

Auburn Foundry is a major producer of gray-iron castings for General Motors and other auto companies, as well as appliance and pump manufacturers. Faced with the worldwide economic crisis and cut-throat competition in auto sales, these companies have been squeezing their suppliers, trying to drive down costs. Auburn bosses in turn are trying to force the workers bear to bear the brunt of this increased competition through speedup and wage and benefit cuts.

"Three years ago, we settled a contract with a $2 wage increase over three years," said Irvin. "This time they offered no raise the first year, and only 15 cents each of the following two years." In addition, Auburn demanded 90 other contract concessions from the workers, including eliminating cost-of-living adjustments, gutting seniority rights in job assignments, and cuts in benefits, he said.

"A foundry is a hard and dangerous place to work in," noted Curtis Terry, a scale operator with 14 years at Auburn. "There are jobs for 20-year-olds and jobs for 40-year-olds. By gutting seniority they mean to push out a lot of the older guys."

The company also wants to outsource more work, such as grinding castings, to nearby nonunion foundries that pay as little as $7 an hour, Terry said. Auburn Foundry production workers averaged around $15.50 per hour at the time of the strike.

Paul Houlton, an electrician with 15 years in the plant, said the bosses want to be able to impose mandatory 12-hour weekend shifts on maintenance workers on top of their regular work week. They are also demanding a stricter attendance policy, including the right to fire workers for minor injuries such as cuts or burns, he added.

"Safety is really the biggest issue," said Thompson. "Right now they cut corners to push production out. They don't take the time to adequately clean ladles between pours and they use inferior pipe scrap in the furnaces, which leads to dangerous blowouts of molten metal on the shop floor."

"We used to be able to say no to unsafe situations," noted Terry. "But now the bosses want more control. We have filed more than 400 grievances over the past three years. We want the contract to say the company has to fix problems within a specific deadline, but they refused."

A strikebreaker mechanic was crushed to death in a mold machine October 13, underscoring the importance of workers' safety demands. "We feel sorry for the guy, even though he was a scab," said Terry. "They put him to work without experience and without properly locking out the machine."

GMP strikers have organized several marches and won support from other unionists, including locals of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and United Auto Workers at the nearby Cooper Tire and Eaton Industries plants and the big GM coach and truck plant in Fort Wayne. A June 20 strike support march of 300 people included members of 30 other unions.

"The steelworkers and auto workers have really been great," said Larry Chapman, a forklift operator who was picketing the gate to plant no. 2. "They've raised money, held raffles, and joined marches. I don't know how we would have held out this long without them." He said another encouraging local development was that workers at the RAMCO aluminum plant had just voted to join the USWA, with a 72 percent majority.

Chapman was one of a group of GMP strikers who went to Mansfield, Ohio, recently to join rallies with locked-out workers at Armco Steel. "We learned a lot from them, about how to run our food kitchen, strike headquarters, and other things, " he said. "It was a great experience."

Harvey McArthur is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 100 in Chicago. Bill Schmitt is a member of the Young Socialists in Detroit.  
 
 
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