Truck drivers and dockworkers in Atlanta voted in their majority for the Teamsters more than five years ago in an effort to improve working conditions, pensions, and benefits.

The May 17 rally attracted 250 people, including rank-and-file Teamsters members from other nearby trucking companies. Unionists from UPS showed up in their brown work uniforms. Members of the Bakery, Confectionery, and Tobacco Workers union (BC&T), who work at Nabisco, brought some snacks to donate to the strikers. The rally was held in the late afternoon to coincide with the time a number of scab-driven trucks return to the terminal. Cops were present to make sure the scabs had no problems crossing the picket line, but the unionists had no problem making their presence known.

Union officials reported there were no new developments with the strike or negotiations with the company, urging strikers to continue "one day longer" to win a contract.

Some unionists attracted to the strike see the need for wider solidarity because the outcome of the struggle between the Teamsters and Overnite will affect broader numbers of workers. Isaac Gobern, a member of BC&T, said in an interview that he joined the rally "to support myself and other bakery union members. Support for this strike is needed outside the Teamsters."

John Culberson, a striker with 16 years at Overnite, commented, "This was an uplifting rally seeing our brothers and sisters with a common goal, which is a decent contract. Corporate greed and the elite powers still undermine the American worker and fail to bargain in good faith." Striker Reggie White said winning the strike is "a slow process."

Teamster Denny Strider, who was a member of the United Steelworkers of America at Atlanta Steel for 29 years until it closed a few years ago, said, "I'm here for organized labor. Why work for nothing in a nonunion shop?" Strider now works at Roadway Express.

"I'm here to support the Overnite strike and the Teamsters Union," stated Oliver Neloms, a Teamster who drives for Consolidated Freightways, "Either there is a contract here or we shut them down."

Don Pane is a textile worker.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home