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PHILADELPHIA - More than 200 members of UAW Local 1612 are on strike in southern New Jersey against Holman Enterprises, which supplies engines and automotive parts to dealerships across the Northeast.

The unionists rejected 173-11 a new proposed contract which lowers wages and cuts their benefits. This is their first strike since 1967.

"They told us we were family and we kicked butt for them. And this is the thanks we get? Well, we're no longer going to be a doormat" stated Keith O'Neil. "They're bloodsuckers," said Ken Gordy. "We have to be pretty mad to do this. We have guys close to retirement out here, 30-35 years," said Joe Sinni, another striker.

"All we're asking for is 25 cents more per hour and to keep everything else the same," said Scott McDonald, a member of the negotiating team who has worked for Holman Enterprises for 13 years.

In the last two contract agreements, the union has conceded sick days and 50 cents in wages and allowed a two- tier wage scale for new hires at less than half the average salary. The highest paid worker in the plant makes $15 per hour; most make at least $2 less.

McDonald said Holman Enterprises rejected the union's offer, instead asking UAW members to approve a contact that calls for no increase in salaries, taking back all their paid sick days and personal days, as well as giving up overtime pay on weekends. Workers now have four personal days, two sick days and two floating holidays for Christmas, said Tom O'Rourke, also a member of the unions negotiating committee. "Employees get paid time and a half for working on Saturdays, and double time for working on Sundays."

The UAW members report that two months before the strike, the company bought two warehouses for the purpose of storing engines. And on the evening of the strike, the bosses changed all the locks on the doors and gates at the plants.

British miners win case over workplace injuries
LONDON - Over the past number of years, the National Union of Mineworkers has been fighting the former coal owners British Coal (BC) for compensation for vibration white finger (VWF), a condition caused by damage to the hand's circulation and nerves from vibration. Seven miners won a test case September 30.

Now the government could face a bill of up to 50 million in compensation claims from other former pitmen who are suffering from vibration white finger. More than 12,000 miners have already begun legal action against BC.

In severe cases of VWF, symptoms include a loss of grip, strength and sensitivity. Some people suffer paralysis of their hands.

The condition was identified in 1911 and information on it has been available since 1954.

Judge James Stephenson ruled that from at least January 1, 1993, BC should have known of the risk of vibration white finger from tools which were used in the coal mining industry.

Peter Cudlip, who was awarded 10,000 in damages, cannot handle small coins or do a host of everyday tasks requiring any dexterity.

Miners were given no protection against the vibration white finger, no padded gloves or padded handles on the machines. Road workers who operate jack hammers, or other tools which operate with high vibration will be able to clam if they develop the disease.

Beverage workers strike in Atlanta
ATLANTA-Twenty-one workers represented by Teamsters local 528 have been on strike against S. E. Atlantic Beverage Co. since September 29. Over the years, the company has increased the payroll deduction workers must pay for their medical insurance. Workers at the bottling company went on strike in response to the company's demand that the weekly payroll medical insurance deduction be raised again to $57 per week. Top wages are $11.45 per hour.

The strike vote was unanimous. One nonunion mechanic has crossed the line.

"The UPS drivers are respecting our picket line. The railroad workers at Norfolk Southern haven't delivered tank cars since the strike began." said Curtis Lyles a striker. "The company filed for and won an injunction on October 3 limiting our picketing to five at one gate and two at the other."

The truck drivers who deliver the cases of soda are still picking up and delivering, although they are not crossing the picket lines. They wait down the street to pick up. They are also Teamster members but work under a different contract. The Atlanta factory is the only union plant owned by S. E. Atlantic. The company has brought in scabs from their nonunion facilities in Florida.

Workers strike two plants in Yakima, Washington
YAKIMA, Washington - Workers at two plants here have been walking the picket lines since September 10. Eighty-five workers struck Summit Windows, a company owned by Jeld-Wen Corporation. About 50 workers also struck the John I. Haas Extraction Plant about a mile away from Summit.

The strikers at Summit are members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Local 2739. They had voted in the union in 1995 by a large majority. In these contract negotiations, the workers were demanding a union security clause and wage increases that would put them at the same rates that Jeld-Wen pays in their other union window plants in Kent, Washington, and Hawkins, Wisconsin.

Their wages now vary from $6.67 per hour to $10.03, with the majority being paid between $7 to $8 per hour. Workers at the Kent and Hawkins plants make $1 to $4 per hour more than the Yakima workers. Jeld-Wen, which had an estimated $850 million in revenues and $64 million in profits in 1996, offered a paltry 21 cents per hour wage increase, and refuses to agree to a union shop agreement.

Since the strike, Summit has begun to hire replacement workers in retaliation.

The workers at the Extraction plant are organized by the Teamsters union, local 760. They have been working without a contract for 15 months. Their strike was prompted by the company's proposals of a meager 1.6 percent wage increase each of 3 years; refusal to grant sick leave and allow employees to take holidays off; and the company demands for random drug and alcohol testing.

Garment workers rally to protest sweatshops
LOS ANGELES - Some 400 garment workers, other unionists, and students rallied and marched downtown here October 4. The protest was part of the National Day of Conscience to End Sweatshops called by the National Labor Committee in Support of Worker and Human Rights.

The Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE) was active in building the October 4 events in many cities around the country.

In Los Angeles one of the most spirited contingents was a group of garment workers for the GUESS company that are currently fighting for union recognition. GUESS worker Enriqueta Soto said, "We are here today to protest with hundreds of others for no more sweatshops. There are many, many sweatshops and they owe workers money. The time to pay us is now." It was announced from the podium that sweatshops owe workers $89,554 in back wages. The marchers stopped at different shops leaving posters announcing how much they owed their workers in back pay.

Christina Vásquez, assistant regional director for UNITE in Los Angeles, said, "In Los Angeles there are 5,000 contract shops employing 160,000 workers. The Labor Department has cited these shops with 4,000 violations. Among the violations are paying less than minimum wage, not paying overtime, homework, and child labor."

In Atlanta some 400 UNITE members protested in front of Lord and Taylors department store at the posh Phipps Plaza mall during a break in the October 3-5 Southern regional UNITE conference here. Union members cheered when a banner that read "Unionize the South" was unfurled.

The largest contingent was over twenty textile workers from Kannapolis and Concord, North Carolina who are in a battle to win a union at the giant Fieldcrest-Cannon mills.

Hattie McCutcheon and Bob Stanton from Philadelphia; Don Fane from Atlanta; Jim Spaul, member of the RMT in London; Scott Breen, member of IAM Local 751A in Seattle; Gale Shangold, a member of UNITE Local 482 in Los Angeles; and Arlene Rubinstein, member of UNITE from Atlanta contributed to this column.  
 
 
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