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   Vol. 69/No. 40           October 17, 2005  
 
 
Food workers union backs striking mechanics
(front page)
 
BY NELSON GONZALEZ  
ST. PAUL, Minnesota—At a fund-raising rally in support of the mechanics, cleaners, and custodians on strike against Northwest Airlines, representatives of several unions contributed $6,000. The September 30 event, which drew 150 strikers and supporters, was held at the headquarters of Local 789 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).

Bernie Hess, a UFCW Local 789 organizer, opened the event and greeted those present. “Let us know how we can help. We are in it with you for the long haul,” he told the cheering crowd.

The 4,400 strikers, members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), have been on the picket line since August 19. They rejected the company’s demand for a 25 percent pay cut, a pension freeze, and layoffs of half the AMFA-organized workforce. Two weeks later Northwest filed for bankruptcy protection and announced plans for deeper cuts.

In an October 3 letter to the unions, Julie Hagen Showers, Northwest vice president for labor relations, warned that the International Association of Machinists “must cut a deal fast,” the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported, or the company will ask the bankruptcy court to tear up their contracts and impose the bosses’ terms. Northwest is now demanding $83 million more in concessions from the Machinists, including a possible layoff of 6,500.

On September 30 the company called for more concessions from the pilots, including a 28 percent salary cut on top of an earlier 15 percent, and plans to lay off 1,290 pilots. The flight attendants face some 2,640 layoffs, in addition to last month’s announcement of 1,400 jobs eliminated, and a 20 percent pay reduction.

“In the months leading up to the strike, you could feel the tension, nobody wanted to talk, people had their heads down, unhappy at having to work for a tyrant,” said Ted Ludwig, president of AMFA Local 33, at the solidarity rally. “But when we went on strike you could see the joy and sense of relief as the membership finally felt that we were standing up for what was right and against the abuse. The other workers on the property are staring at the same type of abuse and the right thing to do is to stand up to it now.”

Another speaker at the rally, John Killeen, a member of the Ford local 897 United Auto Workers bargaining committee, stated, “We need to stick together and be there for one another. Just keep fighting, and we’ll do our part.”
 
 
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