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.
LEMONT, Illinois - Two hundred trade unionists gathered at the gates of the Uno-Ven refinery here on September 28 to protest the company's lock-out of 450 members of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) Local 7-517. More than a dozen locals from nine different unions participated, including 15 members of the United Auto Workers in Peoria who work for Caterpillar Inc., and members of the United Paperworkers International Inc. at Trailmobile who recently returned to work after being locked out.
The rally was the second such event since the OCAW members were locked-out of the plant on March 24.
Uno-Ven is a joint venture between Los Angeles-based Unocal Corporation's Union Oil Co. and the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA.
Union officials reported that at the time of contract negotiations earlier this year, Uno-Ven balked at following the national contract pattern. The company instead stated it had to cut costs to remain competitive and needed concessions from the union on pay and work practices.
After negotiations broke down, Uno-Ven locked out the union to prevent a strike and hired replacement workers to keep the refinery running. They have also employed the Assets Protection Team of Vance Security, a well-known strike breaking outfit, to videotape and observe pickets at the three gates in an attempt to intimidate workers.
Uno-Ven's insistence on a new multitiered wage system that would pay new hires $4 to $5 an hour less provoked the collapse of the most recent negotiations between the union and company.
When asked what was the most important issue facing the union, Pam Pryzbyto, a Local 7-517 member with 10 years at Uno- Ven, commented, "Well of course we're looking for a reasonable dollar, but safety is the major aspect for us."
In 1984, 17 workers were killed in an explosion at the plant. Two more were killed in the rebuilding and in December 1995, another worker was killed on the job.
"Safety is a big problem," noted Jim Ashton, an operator in the Catlytic Reforming Unit and an 11-year employee of the company. "The work orders for equipment repair build up; there aren't enough maintenance people to handle them. Now the company wants us to do our jobs, as well as the jobs of the `safeties' who issue hot work permits and are trained in all aspects of plant safety.
"Pay is a big issue for us too," said Ashton, "because they want to take away our seniority rights, making it impossible to move from one job to another without losing money. This is especially hard for workers who have held physically demanding jobs for many years and could work safer in another department as they get older."
One OCAW Local 7-517 member noted that prior to the lock-out, it wasn't uncommon for operators to work 16 hours a day, 6 or 7 days in a row.
Nick Kozak, a 14-year veteran of Uno-Ven, said that since the lock-out began he's thought about why the company does not hire more people. "We'd work 700 or 800 hours of overtime a year," he commented, "Some of these kids graduating from high school who need jobs should get a chance and the company should hire some more people."
Locked-out unionists commented that while they don't like being locked-out, they don't see any alternative to fighting short of accepting the company's concessions.
"I know the issues we confront here are the same ones workers
face everywhere," remarked Pryzbyto.
Police attack mass picket of Liverpool dockers
LIVERPOOL, England - Cops attacked a mass picket of sacked
dockers at Liverpool's Seaforth container terminal September 28.
Following the peaceful ending of an occupation of the dock
company's headquarters and three port gantries, police squads
seized at least 41 dockers and their supporters. The arrests
totaled more than all of the others the cops made during this
year-long struggle.
The mass picket followed a march of 6,000 people in Liverpool's city center to support 500 dockers who were fired after refusing to cross a picket line set up by contract workers at the docks. Workers participated from throughout the United Kingdom. There were delegations from Ireland, including the Irish Seaman's Union, and Derry Trades Council. Six coaches of Turkish and Kurdish immigrant workers, members of the Transport and General Workers Union (the TGWU is the same union that represent the dockers), and their families came from London. They had linked up with the dockers through struggles waged in their own workplaces. The TGWU which has not recognized the dispute, claims it is in breach of restrictive UK laws.
The dockers, UNISON (a public sector workers union) and others, with assistance from some Labour Party MP's, are demanding an independent inquiry into the conduct of the police Operational Support Division. A video shot on the day shows the unprovoked and violent nature of the police attacks.
In Denmark, Copenhagen dockers struck for 24 hours, and in Arhus and Hosens dockers stopped work for the day after mass meetings were called to explain the Liverpool dockers fight. In Odense, a three-hour strike was organized. In the Swedish ports of Gothenburg and Stockholm, a 24-hour ban on the movement of ACL containers was imposed. ACL is the Liverpool Port Authority's main customer. In an action to protest the privatization of Australia's state-owned shipping line, dockers in that country also pledged solidarity with the Liverpool dockers. Dockers in Salerno, Italy imposed an overtime ban on ships to or from Liverpool. Spanish dockers planned to stopped work for one hour on October 28 in solidarity.
Liverpool dockers voted at mass meetings to turn down a series of company offers to end the dispute. These have promised up to 25,000 ($US37,500) to most sacked employees of the Mersey Docks and Harbor Company, and ancillary jobs for the remainder. Meanwhile, dockers working for Torside, whose picket lines the majority of dockers were sacked for honoring, have been offered nothing.
Angel Lariscy, member of OCAW Local 7-807 in Mapleton, Illinois. and Sandra Nelson, member of OCAW Local 7-507 in Summit, Illinois; Tim Rigby and Ian Grant, members of the TGWU in United Kingdom contributed to this column.