—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

Phila. Fight for $15: ‘Reinstate fired McDonald’s workers!’

PHILADELPHIA — Fighters for $15 an hour and a union demonstrated at a McDonald’s here Dec. 8 to defend two fired workers who are part of that struggle.

Alicia Hamiel, fired for a uniform violation, and Nykeemah Dawkins, fired for calling in sick, were part of the protest, along with co-worker Safiyyah Cotton. Chanting, “We can’t live on $7.25!” protesters went inside the restaurant and appealed to workers and customers to support the fight.

“You have a right to a union, and we will stand with you,” Diane Mohney of the Coalition of Labor Union Women told workers.

Dawkins was fired a couple of weeks ago, she told the Militant, for calling off sick one day. The company refused to accept the note she brought in from an area hospital. Dawkins, Hamiel and Cotton had attended the Nov. 10 “Fight for $15 and a union” protest in Philadelphia, part of a national day of action.

Gregory Holston, pastor of New Vision United Methodist Church and a supporter of the $15 campaign, led a prayer inside the restaurant, while workers behind the counter listened and business stopped. Then the demonstrators marched around the building, giving leaflets to drive-through customers explaining the protest.

— Janet Post

Chicago area Teamsters fight Coca-Cola threats, demands

ALSIP, Ill. — More than 300 members of Teamsters Local 727 at Coca-Cola plants in this Chicago suburb and in nearby Niles went on strike Dec. 3. After meeting with the company 12 times since Oct. 28, the union filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board. Disputed issues include pay, benefits and mandatory overtime.

Coca-Cola Refreshments forced the strike by bargaining with no intention of settling the contract, intimidating workers and threatening union members with job loss, a Local 727 statement explains. “Managers will walk around carrying baseball bats asking workers about the status of ongoing negotiations,” Will Petty, communications director for Teamsters Joint Council 25, told laborpress.org.

“I’m with that $15 an hour fight at Burger King, McDonald’s and especially at Walmart,” Don Prince, a maintenance worker here, told the Militant on the picket line. “It is important so we can keep up with the economy. Coca-Cola wants to give a small wage increase that will be eaten up by increased health insurance costs.”

As Local 727 entered federal mediation with the company Dec. 14, more than 300 strikers and supporters rallied at the Niles plant. The next day the company handed the union a partial proposal for wage increases of 50 cents a year for five years while increasing health care costs from 10 to 37 percent, and demanded Teamster officials bring the offer to the membership for a vote.

“Local 727 made it clear during the past eight weeks that it cannot and will not recommend a partial proposal to members for a vote,” union officials replied Dec. 15.

— Alyson Kennedy

Quebec public workers strike against cuts, concession contract

MONTREAL — Schools, health centers and most government offices were closed across Quebec Dec. 9 as 400,000 public workers, members of the Common Front of unions, participated in the largest strike in Quebec since 1972. In addition, some 34,000 teachers organized by the Autonomous Teachers Federation struck for three days across the province. The strikers were protesting the provincial government’s demands for budget cuts and contract concessions.

Several thousand members of the teachers federation gathered at Parc Faubourg just east of downtown.

“Stop the quiet demolition,” read Patrice Gagnon’s placard. “During the 1960s and ’70s” — a period known in Quebec as the “Quiet Revolution” — “we fought for better education and health care,” Gagnon told the Militant. “Now the government is in the process of destroying it.”

The teachers marched downtown to join a rally of 40,000 organized by the Common Front.

Picket lines were up at hospitals. Cars honked support as dozens of placard-waving, horn-blowing strikers lined the sidewalk and the median in front of Maissonneuve Hospital.

“The government is cutting jobs and demanding ‘flexible scheduling,’ which means losing overtime pay,” said union representative Johanne Verret in front of the Jeanne Mance Community Health Center, where she works.

“The unions have gotten weaker since I started here, but it’s important to be out here today to show support for our fight,” Normand Beaudoin, a cook for 22 years at the Jean Talon Hospital, told the Militant.

In Quebec City 350 buses from all over Quebec brought some 20,000 strikers to march to the Parliament buildings.

“We won’t give up as long as the government doesn’t commit to invest in education,” Josée Scalabrini, president of the Federation of Teachers Unions, representing 60,000 teachers, told the crowd. Issues such as student-teacher ratios, salaries and retirement were far from settled, she said.

Richard Goldfinch, president of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers, which represents 8,000 teachers in the English schools, also spoke.

— Josette Hurtubise and
Beverly Bernardo