The rally featured a march from the Local 164 union hall to the Titan plant, led by a hearse carrying a coffin containing Titan's "last, best, and final" contract offer. This scheme had been presented to the unionists June 10.
The rally followed a week of growing tensions on the picket line. In response to a Titan ultimatum to return to work or face replacement, more than 250 strikers rallied at the plant June 21 at the time the unionists were ordered by Titan president Gary Carlson to return. Then, on June 22, a woman driving through the line to pick up her strike- breaking husband attacked a Local 164 picket. The incident was played on Des Moines TV news repeatedly.
Titan has charged Local 164 with violating an injunction restricting union picketing at the plant. A court hearing is set for June 29.
Other area unionists participating in the rally included members from a number of locals of the USWA; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; United Auto Workers; American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); and others.
A special welcome was given to 45 members of IBEW Local 1634 who came by bus from Coralville, Iowa. These workers won a 12-day strike against Rockwell Collins June 12, in a fight for wage increases and health care benefits. Lee Kohl, a spokesman for Local 1634, said coming to the rally was in thanks for the support they received in their fight.
Family and friends of Local 164 strikers turned out in big numbers. Pat Gilman said, "I'm here supporting a striker, my dad. Whatever affects him trickles down and affects me."
The rally program included speeches by union officials and politicians including Jesse Jackson. A number of unions came forward with donations for the Local 164 strike fund. More than $2,000 was presented from a gate collection among members of UAW Local 450 at the John Deere Des Moines Works.
At the Bridgestone/Firestone plant across town, the company had refused to allow a gate collection by USWA Local 310, but unionists mobilized a large crew of collectors and went ahead with the fundraising anyway. Some $2,800 was collected over two days there. Polk County sheriffs were called in to remove the "trespassers." Local 310 collectors got a TV news crew out to cover the confrontation, and the cops took no action against the steelworkers.
Firefighters rally against cutbacks in Auckland...
AUCKLAND, New Zealand -Chanting, "They say cut back, we
say fight back," 1,000 unionists and supporters marched in
downtown Auckland June 26 to protest attacks by the
government on firefighters. The trade union action was
sponsored by the Council of Trade Unions, and led by 400
uniformed firefighters. Similar actions were held in
Wellington and Christchurch. In Dunedin, according to the
June 27 New Zealand Herald, 2,000 marched.
Unionists at several workplaces in Auckland organized transportation to bring them to the event. A busload of workers from the BHP steel mill at Glenbrook took four hours off work to attend. Sixty workers were bused in from the naval dockyard at Devonport. Last year maintenance workers at the facility were locked out for eight days by their employer, the contracting firm Babcocks, in an attempt to impose concessions during contract negotiations. Marcel, a Babcocks worker, told the Militant why he had come to the firefighters' march: "For me personally it's like returning support for the support they gave us. We need it more than ever now - they try to break you into little groups and deal with you individually."
The June 26 marches were the latest in a series of protest actions organized by the Professional Firefighters Union in response to plans by their employer, the Fire Service Commission, to sack its entire frontline work force of 1,575 firefighters on July 1 and force them to reapply for their jobs on new terms and conditions. The Commission announced May 7 that only about 1,200 workers will be rehired, and crews on fire engines would be reduced from four to three. Fewer firefighters will be rostered on overnight duties - the time when most serious fires causing death occur.
The firefighters have been actively reaching out to other unionists for support, for instance by holding gate meetings at factories and other worksites where they gained signatures for a petition they are circulating nationally against the cuts. The petition drive, launched in early May, has gathered more than 200,000 signatures.
John Roberts, an Engineers Union member from the auto components maker Yazaki who came to the march with a group of his co-workers, told The Militant, "I've always been a unionist. I couldn't believe it when I heard they were going to slash all those firefighters' jobs."
Yazaki itself is slated to close in November with the loss of 430 jobs. Roberts blamed the impending closure on the removal of protective tariffs by the government. "We can't compete with the $1.50 [US$0.75] they pay in Samoa." Yazaki has a large factory in that Pacific island nation. "I don't blame those workers in Samoa," Roberts added. "They need jobs too."
The day before the marches there were signs that the government and the Fire Service Commission were beginning to retreat in the face of the firefighters' campaign. The Commission announced that the number of jobs would be cut to 1,260 instead of 1,200, and that in some cases truck crews could remain at four. The Professional Firefighters Union labeled these new proposals "unacceptable."
Addressing the Auckland rally, the union's national president, Mike McEnaney, a working firefighter, said, "This fight has only started. We're only just warming up."
...and in Christchurch
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - More than 200 uniformed
firefighters from Christchurch, Timaru, and Nelson led a
spirited march of up to 1,000 people through the main street
here June 26. They were protesting planned cuts to
firefighters' jobs and working conditions.
Both national trade union federations were represented on the march and union banners included those of waterfront workers, health workers, Finsec, the bank officers' union, and the National Distribution Union. Several Christchurch city councilors and members of parliament from the Labour and Alliance parties also marched and spoke at a rally at the end.
Contingents of volunteer firefighters from throughout the region took part in the protest. "There's overwhelming support for the firefighters among the volunteers, from what I can see," Gavin Lockton, the training officer for Governors Bay volunteer firefighters, told the Militant.
Gary Pascoe, a seasonal and casual worker on the waterfront, explained that he had heard the march advertised on the radio and had come along to show his support. Volunteer firefighters should withdraw their labor in support of the professional firefighters, he said. "That would bring things to a halt pretty quickly."
Volunteers make up 80 percent of the total number of firefighters in New Zealand, although they only take 20 percent of the callouts. Many parts of the country, including quite large urban centers, are only covered by volunteers.
Speaking at a Militant Labor Forum later that day, Jim Ryburn, the vice-president of the southern region of the Professional Firefighters' Union, described public support for their fight as "absolutely fantastic. It puts us under an obligation to do our very best."
Safety is a key issue in the dispute, Ryburn told the meeting. Since 1995 the number of professional firefighters in New Zealand has dropped by over 400 to about 1,550 today. "If the cuts go through, there will be fewer full-time firefighters in Christchurch than at the time of the Ballantynes' fire in 1947." (Ballantynes is a leading department store in central Christchurch. A fire there in 1947 left over 20 people dead.) The proposed cuts also target the firefighters' union, Ryburn explained. Union spokespeople have been unofficially warned that there will be no jobs for them in the restructured fire service.
In recent weeks the firefighters' union has organized a series of public meetings throughout Christchurch to explain the issues involved in the proposed restructuring of the fire service. The electorate offices of members of parliament belonging to the governing coalition have also been picketed.
The last strike action by professional firefighters was in 1976. "Firefighters don't want to strike because of the safety issues involved, and because it could cost us public support," Ryburn said. "But, in the end, it may be an action we have to take if they keep pushing us. When it comes down to it, you have to take a stand."
Florida microchip workers win strike
MIAMI - On June 21 some 1,000 members of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) local
2000 returned to work at the Cirent Semiconductor plant in
Orlando, Florida after an eight-day strike. The IBEW
organizes 1,020 of the plant's 1,600 employees, who produce
microchips for cellular phones and pagers. This was the
second work stoppage in less than two weeks at the plant,
which is one Orlando's largest manufacturers. On June 1 a
two-and-a-half-hour strike ended when Lucent Technologies,
Cirent's parent company, reached an agreement with the IBEW
and the Communications Workers of America on a national
contract involving some 43,000 workers.
The Orlando workers rejected the proposed local version of this contract and walked out despite the recommendation of the union leadership to endorse it. Workers demanded more promotion opportunities and better working conditions, including job postings and assignments. Hundreds of plant foremen and engineers tried to keep the operation running.
The workers' demands were finally met by the company, which also offered a $25,000 incentive for the next 180 workers who retire during the course of the five-year contract.
The terms of the national agreement, also approved by the Orlando workers, included an 18.7 percent pay raise over five years, a 20 percent increase in pension benefits, and improved health-care benefits. Lucent Technologies, which sells services and makes equipment and microchips for the telecommunications industry, has seen its stock increase 400 percent since it was created out of AT&T in 1996.
Ray Parsons, member of USWA Local 310 in Des Moines; Terry Coggan, member of the Engineers Union in Auckland; Joan Shields, member of the Meat Workers Union in Christchurch; and Bill Kalman , member of the United Transportation Union Local 1138 in Miami contributed to this column.