The Militant - 4/6/98 -- Supporters Of Socialist Press Organize Sales At Factory Gates, In Puerto Rico

Vol.62/No.13 April 6, 1998

Supporters Of Socialist Press Organize Sales At Factory Gates, In Puerto Rico

BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
As we enter the second week of the campaign to win new readers to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial, socialist workers in Iowa have organized a regional sales team to the Quad Cities region in Iowa and Illinois, to reach out to workers at two Case Corp. plants who recently voted to authorize strike action.

"On March 25 we sold 22 papers and two Militant subscriptions to workers at the Case plant in Burlington, Iowa," said Ray Parsons, a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 310 in Des Moines, Iowa. Jim Meyer, a member of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 807 in Burlington said the bosses, "know what they need to do to avoid a strike but they just won't do it."

A few days earlier the team sold 21 copies of the Militant during a plant gate sale to workers at the Case plant in East Moline, Illinois. "The team arrived in East Moline just as the first wave of day shift workers streamed out, with their car horns blaring," Parsons said. "It took a few minutes to learn that this was part of protests organized by UAW members in the plant this past week as the March 29 expiration of the union contract with Case draws near."

Case is a major producer of construction and agricultural equipment. The contract covers 3,300 workers at five plants in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota.

Parsons said some workers reported that the vote taken in Local 1304 in East Moline to authorize strike action passed overwhelmingly, and that the company has stepped up harassment of workers in the plant in recent days. Management issued a letter threatening three-day suspensions for anyone who takes time off. Some workers called off work in protest. In the contract talks Case is seeking to increase mandatory overtime. Other workers also noted that retirement benefits, including for current retirees, are under attack.

"Most of those buying the Militant were drawn to its ongoing coverage of the fight by UAW workers at Caterpillar and other working-class struggles worldwide," Parsons concluded. Several workers expressed agreement with the Militant's opposition to U.S. war moves in Iraq and Yugoslavia.

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Supporters of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial in Vancouver got off to a running start during the first week of the campaign to win new readers to the socialist press. "We sold 10 Militant subscriptions, 2 subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial, and one copy of New International," said Bev Bernardo, a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). "The highlight of the week was selling a subscription to a Fletcher Challenge striker in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. We also sold another subscription going door-to-door there and learned about a rally taking place on April 4 in solidarity with the strike." (See article on front page)

Bernardo said they sold subscriptions at a variety of activities, including a conference on Latin America at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, where participants purchased 20 Pathfinder titles, one Militant subscription, one subscription to Perspectiva Mundial, and one copy of the Marxist magazine New International. "We also sold three subscriptions on the campus at the University of British Columbia and two at a Militant Labor Forum on Kosovo along with two copies of The Truth About Yugoslavia: Why Working People Should Oppose Intervention."

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Socialist workers in Detroit organized a special effort to get the paper in the hands of Albanian workers living in the area last week, Holly Harkness reports. "We knocked on doors in Hamtramck where there is a concentration of Albanian immigrants and sold one subscription and 10 issues of the Militant. We met recent immigrants who were not fluent enough in English to read the paper, but were glad to see workers in the United States supporting their cause." Harkness said they also sold a subscription to an Albanian UAW member on strike at Masco Tech in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

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Supporters of the Militant in Miami are preparing to leave on a sales and reporting team to Puerto Rico March 27-31, where they will cover the convention of the Federation of Pro- Independence University Students and distribute the socialist press among workers, farmers, and student activists.

"We've also been invited to speak on some campuses there and plan to interview longtime independence fighter Rafael Cancel Miranda," said Wendy Lyons, a member of UNITE in New York, who plans to join the team. "I got a leave of absence from my job to go on a fact-finding trip to the Caribbean island to discuss its colonial status among workers and students there," she added. The garment worker said the trip will officially launch her campaign as the Socialist Workers candidate for State Attorney General.

Young Socialists leader Cecilia Ortega from Chicago is also part of the team in Puerto Rico.

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The Militant urges its readers to send in plans for regional sales teams and future political events. Reports of sales on the job and discussions with co-workers are welcome. And remember to get your subscriptions and sales reports in by noon each Tuesday to be included on the scoreboard.

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