BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Some 2,000 members of United
Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 8888 rallied outside the
massive shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, January 26 as a
show of unity in preparation for the upcoming fight for a new
contract. The sheer size of the protest halted traffic by the
plant for 45 minutes, according to the local paper.
"We are for real this time," said Eddie Garris, a welder with 27 years in the shipyard. The current contract, which covers about 10,000 workers, expires April 4. The Steelworkers haven't had an across-the-board pay increase since their 1991 contract.
"We've got the older people and the younger people coming together," commented Larry Washington, a 17-year employee at the yard. Twenty years ago USWA Local 8888 conducted a successful organizing drive at the shipyard despite the antiunion "right-to-work" laws in Virginia. An ensuing militant strike in 1979 won the workers their first union contract.
Brian Williams is a member of USWA Local 2609 in Sparrows Point, Maryland.