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.
KENNETT SQUARE, Pennsylvania - After proceedings of nearly a year, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board announced March 13 that it was rejecting a second appeal by owner Michael Pia of a successful union representation election at his Kaolin Mushroom Farms, the country's fifth-largest mushroom producer.
Piás first appeal asked the Labor Relations Board to overturn a 124-102 victory in a May 27, 1993, union representation election that came after a hard-fought one-month strike by farm workers here, most of them Mexican.
On April 11, 1995, the board rejected this challenge in a contradictory ruling. It ordered Pia to rehire 11 members of the Kaolin Mushroom Workers Union who had been fired from their jobs for union activity.
But the court also upheld Piás demand for a new election on the grounds that inadequate translation had been provided to some of the workers during the balloting.
The union appealed this part of the decision, arguing that Piás sudden concern for the language rights of the Mexican workers on strike was merely a legal pretext aimed at circumventing the results of the election. In compliance with state requirements, the ballots had been printed in Spanish even though for a few voters, there was no bilingual help on hand. They also pointed out that because the previously disputed votes of the 11 fired workers would now have to be counted, the union's margin of victory was now well beyond the number of votes in dispute over the issue of translation anyway.
Pia appealed the decision ordering the fired workers reinstated.
The Labor Board's March 13 ruling upheld the union on both points, holding that the 1993 union election was valid.
Pia announced he will continue his stalling tactics by appealing the union's victory yet again, this time in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.
New Zealand teachers strike
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - High school classrooms across the
country were empty March 6, as 13,000 teachers walked out in a
one-day, nationwide strike called by their union, the Post-
Primary Teachers Association (PPTA). The overwhelming majority
of teachers supported the strike call. The teachers are
demanding a 21 percent pay raise. The State Services Commission
has offered a piddling 2 percent, with the prospect of an
additional 1 percent "performance bonus."
In Auckland 1,500 teachers marched up the main street March 6. Along with banners identifying contingents from various schools, some carried placards saying "Lowest-paid teachers in the western world," and "education in crisis." In Wellington, 700 marched on parliament. Marches and rallies were also held in Christchurch, Hamilton, Whangarei, and other cities.
On the eve of the strike, the government removed the widely- hated Minister of Education, Lockwood Smith, and organized last- minute talks between the PPTA and the new minister, Wyatt Creech. But these moves failed to avert the strike.
The PPTA is also demanding the hiring of 1,000 new teachers, including 200 Maori teachers. The school year began in February with many schools understaffed, despite a last- minute government recruitment drive in Australia and Britain. Another contentious issue is the government's attempts to impose "bulk funding," under which teachers are not paid by the government. Instead the government gives funds to school boards that then negotiate salaries on the local level - a way to break up the national pay scale.
Pete Seidman, a member of Union of Needletrades Industrial and Textile Employees in Philadelphia; and James Robb, a member of the Meat Workers Union in Aotearoa, New Zealand, contributed to this week's column.