This column is devoted to reporting the resistance by working people to the employers' assault on their living standards, working conditions, and unions.
We invite you to contribute short items to this column
as a way for other fighting workers around the world to read
about and learn from these important struggles. Jot down a
few lines about what is happening in your union, at your
workplace, or other workplaces in your area, including
interesting political discussions.
Kmart Workers Rally For Contract, Equal Rights
Workers at the Kmart distribution center in Greensboro,
North Carolina, continued their actions against the
company's unequal treatment of workers here with a plant-
gate rally of about 100 people at the afternoon shift change
May 24. The majority of workers are members of Amalgamated
Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) Local 2603 who
are fighting for a union contract at the warehouse.
Negotiations have been dragging on for more than one and a
half years. The main point of the rally was to protest the
worse vacation benefits, overtime pay, and attendance policy
that prevails in Greensboro compared to almost all other
Kmart warehouses. The rally was preceded by a two-day
petition drive.
Mike Thompson, a day-shift worker, carried a sign in Spanish to appeal to Mexican workers, who are relatively new hires. "We had a nice rally. I think we ought to do this sort of thing more often, like every other day, to get their attention," he said.
Three area newspapers and two television stations covered the event. Some second-shift workers who took part in the rally marched into work together chanting union slogans. One of the highlights of the demonstration occurred when Wil Bethea, an activist in shipping, called corporate headquarters in Troy, Michigan, holding a cellular phone in one hand and a bullhorn in the other. With television cameras rolling and the unionists gathered around, Bethea told a secretary of one of Kmart's top executives, "We want to know why we're being discriminated against and treated unfairly here at the distribution center in Greensboro. Right?" he asked, holding the phone out to the crowd as the workers shouted their approval.
ACTWU officials in Greensboro have reported that workers at the Sparks, Nevada, Kmart distribution center have contacted ACTWU to inquire about joining the union.
Washington strikers
demand union, dignity
Some 145 predominantly Hispanic workers struck Valley
Manufacturing Housing, the largest employer in Sunnyside,
Washington, May 19. The carpenters, electricians, welders,
and general laborers are seeking union representation with
the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBC).
The strike was sparked when four workers asked for pay raises. The company summarily fired them, then held an assembly where it told all employees that anyone seeking a wage hike or union representation should quit. Thirty-four workers walked out to protest the firing and the ultimatum and threw up a picket line. The next day they were joined by the rest of the workforce.
The workers have been fighting for better wages and conditions. In January they began seeking UBC representation.
"They treat us like dogs and donkeys," said one worker who left the job after suffering a serious back injury. Another worker was recently shot in the head by a nail gun, which - like all the others in the factory - fires automatically and has no safety mechanism. The bosses refused to call an ambulance and told a secretary to drive him to the hospital.
Workers report that starting pay is $5 an hour and it takes three years to reach the top of the pay scale for most people in the plant - $6.25 an hour.
The strikers are using the nearby United Farm Workers headquarters to help organize their fight. Pickets have faced police harassment, including macing.
The company has hired 80 strikebreakers. Workers have offered to return to the factory unconditionally, but the company is refusing, and strikers are staying united. The strikers are asking that contributions be sent to: Strike Fund, 712 N. Seventh Ave., Yakima, WA, 98901.
Alitalia grounded by
pilots strike in Rome
In the latest of a series of intermittent strikes by
workers at Alitalia, the Italian airline, pilots held a work
stoppage June 15. Police were called into Leonardo da Vinci
Airport in Rome to restore order among some of the 3,000
disgruntled passengers. Most flights were grounded - 130
were canceled outright and long delays were reported on
those that did depart. Pilots, flight attendants, and other
workers have been resisting the state-owned carrier's
attempt to slash labor costs, including the leasing of
carriers and crews from outside Italy.
Dock workers strike and win pay raise in Brazil
Latin America's largest port was paralyzed by a strike
June 12-13, when 6,400 dock workers in Santos, Brazil,
walked off the job for higher pay. Workers voted to end
their strike after accepting an offer from the state for a
33 percent cost-of-living raise and an additional 7 percent
hike for productivity and other benefits. The strike had
left 26 ships unattended and 27 more waiting for a berth at
the port, which usually handles 65,000 tons of cargo a day.
On the second day of the Santos strike, dock workers in Rio de Janeiro and four other ports in Rio de Janeiro state joined the strike. The 6,000 additional workers, who walked out after failing to win their demands for a cost-of-living raise and productivity increase in negotiations, continued their work stoppage after the settlement was reached in Santos.
The average monthly wage of dock workers in Brazil is $230.
Decatur unionists win support in Pittsburgh
Two unionists from Decatur, Illinois, concluded a
successful one-week tour of the Pittsburgh area June 15.
Brian McDuffy, a member of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local
751 on strike against Caterpillar Inc., and Royal
Plankenhorn of United Paperworkers International Union
(UPIU) Local 7837, which has been locked out by A.E. Staley
Manufacturing, made the trip. United Steelworkers of America
(USWA) District 10 sponsored the tour.
The two workers addressed the Butler County Labor Council and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 10, just north of the city. They visited UAW Local 544 at Fisher Body and raised $800 in union T-shirt sales.
They also spoke before USWA locals at the USX Clairton Works and Allegheny Ludlum plant in Leechburg, Pennsylvania, where a successful strike against concessions occurred last year. Both locals agreed to do plant-gate collections later in the month.
In addition, the Decatur workers spoke before two membership meetings of International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local Lodge 1976 representing USAir workers. The local donated $2,000 and bought $1,500 in shirts to be raffled off at the union picnic later in the summer.
McDuffy urged people to attend the June 25 labor rally in Decatur and encouraged the unions to pool resources to get a bus to the action.
The following people contributed to this week's column: M.J. Rahn, member of ACTWU Local 2603 in Greensboro; Scott Breen, member of IAM Local 289 in Seattle; and Edwin Fruit, member of IAM Local 1976 in Pittsburgh.