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CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - Sixteen Engineers Union (EU) members at the Sockburn meatpacking plant in Christchurch took down their picket line March 20 and celebrated their success in staving off attacks on their wages and working conditions by the Alliance meat company.

They were among 160 EU members who struck Alliance for four days at its six South Island plants, where sheep and cattle are slaughtered for export. Alliance used a helicopter, vans under police escort, and large numbers of security guards to mobilize scabs, but with the active solidarity of thousands of members of the Meat Workers Union (MWU), the engineers prevailed.

The Engineers Union members are skilled workers employed to maintain the machinery in these factories, including the moving chains off which the slaughtered animals hang.

The strike began on March 17. Workers on the picket line at Sockburn explained that the company's attempt to put them on an annual salary - and in the process cut their incomes - was at the heart of the dispute. The company also wanted to take away a week of their annual holiday leave. A leaflet issued by the Alliance Trades Group Employees explained, "We are claiming a two-year contract -3 percent rise for the first year and 2 percent for the second year.... But the Alliance are insisting they put us on salary and are looking to save $1 million off their wage bill."

The leaflet addressed truck drivers and other suppliers, and especially workers employed to do the struck work. These workers were on the rolls of agencies that specialize in providing temporary, "fill-in" workers to employers. Explaining that "we're striking to retain our rights," the leaflet read "we are seeking your support, not to do our work, not to cross our picket line, and to advise the Alliance to treat their employees fairly."

In its attempt to break the strike, Alliance used a helicopter to bring "strikebreaking engineers over the heads of angry picketers" at the Pukeuri works in Oamaru, according to the Christchurch Press. Armored vans under police escort were used to bring strikebreakers into Sockburn.

Meat Workers Union members, advised that to stop work in sympathy with the engineers would be illegal, found other ways to throw their weight behind the strike. They foiled attempts by Alliance to keep the scabs quarantined from their influence. On the first day of the dispute at Sockburn, for example, several fire alerts allowed them to mingle and exchange views with the scabs.

Scabs who ventured into production areas got a fiery response. The Press reported that "at one point casual staff were forced to climb through a ceiling space to get past" angry MWU members at Sockburn. At the Lorneville plant in Invercargill, scabs who entered the slaughterboard area were pelted with meat and other projectiles.

Faced with a united wall of EU pickets and meat workers, many of the replacement workers decided not to return. Those who stayed proved unable to cope with machinery breakdowns, and in several plants whole "chains," or production lines, were shut down.

After four days negotiators for the union and Alliance reached an agreement. Workers voted by a large majority to accept the deal, under which they retain their existing conditions. They will receive a pay rise of 2 percent each year for the next two years. According to the Press, "a commitment was also made that ... the company and the union would look at the introduction of a salary scheme during the next two years." This was very close to the position taken by the union at the onset of the dispute.

Meat Workers Union members were at the forefront of protests organized by the national trade union movement in December of last year, against changes to the Holidays Act proposed by the conservative National Party-New Zealand First coalition government. These changes would have made inroads on workers' rights to certain guaranteed holidays every year. The government is reportedly backing off these widely unpopular measures.

Chrysler workers walk out to protest harassment
STERLING HEIGHTS, Michigan - Some 1,400 members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 1700 walked out of the Chrysler assembly plant here April 3. The unionists refused to work shortly after the afternoon shift began at 3:30 p.m., and had left the plant by 5:30 p.m.

Press reports indicate that the work stoppage began after three local union officials were disciplined. A skilled trades union representative was suspended for 30 days, and the local union president and chief steward received written warnings over a protest March 21 of the company using outside contractors to do work usually done by local union skilled trades members.

Plant management quickly began talks with local officials and the international union to end the walkout. Workers on the day shift returned to work the next morning at the urging of union officials. The unionists work every other Saturday and were scheduled to work on April 4.

Company spokespeople reported that this was the first strike in a UAW-organized Chrysler plant since the 29-day strike at the Mound Road Engine Plant eight miles south of here in Detroit in April 1997.

Striking machinists reject company offer in Quebec
MONTREAL - On April 2 workers at Peerless Luminaires in suburban Lasalle voted 76-21 to reject the company's latest offer. The 110 members of the International Association of Machinists Local Lodge 2133 have been on strike since January 28 against demands for important concessions on salaries, holidays, and seniority provisions in the contract.

The tentative agreement that was voted down would have maintained the status quo on most issues, ruling out most of the concessions Peerless was seeking, but there was no real salary increase. The company wanted workers to accept lump sum payments of $200 in each of the first two years of a three-year contract and a $50 lump sum with an wage increase of 10 cents an hour in the third year. Several workers who Militant reporters spoke to before and during the meeting expressed opposition to returning to work with no increase after spending nine weeks on the picket line. After the meeting Kiranpal Singh explained that the proposed contract was "not good for the new guys" because the lump sum payments "are temporary, they are not added to our salary."

The boisterous union meeting was conducted in both French and English with translation into other languages. After the results of the vote were announced many of the workers filed out smiling and chanting "solidarity, solidarity." Seventy- eight percent voted against the contract this time, as opposed to over 90 percent during the previous vote.

Juan Antonio thought that the No vote would allow the workers to force a better offer from the company. He said, "The reason more people voted yes was because strike pay is going to be reduced. People will have problems getting by on $150 a week." The length of the strike has depleted the local's special strike fund to the point where strike pay will be reduced from $200 to $150 in the coming weeks.

As we went to press, the Militant learned that the company gave in on the salary demands the day after the meeting described above. Workers won the 20 cent raise in each year of the three-year contract that they were demanding in the place of lump sum payments. They have since returned to work.

Auto parts boss closes plant after 8-month strike
FRASER, Michigan - Since Aug. 1, 1997, 250 members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 155 have been on strike against MascoTech, a key automotive industry supplier. "They tried to get rid of us," is how Kola Gjurashaj put it. "They made us work 12 hours with one break, seven days a week mandatory. They wanted us to work five years with no raise, and they were making experienced workers take a test to keep their job."

The new CEO of MascoTech, Frank Hennessey, announced he was closing the plant in Fraser soon. Industry analysts estimate MascoTech will have 1998 sales of $1.7 billion. The company merged with TriMas Corp. in late January, and has been having talks with American Axle & Manufacturing about a joint venture. The company has been moving equipment out for several months. On the March 23 picket line, Gjurashaj and Pjetr Gjokaj briefly blocked a truck from leaving company premises. Gjurashaj explained, "We have to try to strike together and stick together. We have to try to get stronger."

Joan Shields, a member of the MWU at the Alliance works at Sockburn, and Patrick Brown in Christchurch; John Sarge, a member of UAW Local 900 in the Detroit area; Grant Hargrave, member of IAM Local Lodge 1758 in Montreal; and Frank Gorton and Martha Ressler, members of the UAW near Detroit, contributed to this column.  
 
 
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