BY DON MACKLE
QUEENS, New York - At a November 12 rally of nearly 300
unionists, striking members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local
365 at Standard Motors Corp. got word that they would be going
back to work under a deal worked out by the company and union
officials. A contract settlement still has not been reached.
"We are going back unconditionally," said Daniel Cintron, a shop steward at the plant of about 170 union workers. "No one was fired, everyone is going back in. We are going to keep talking with the company, and if nothing good comes of it, we will walk out again."
The rally was in the sixth week of the strike. Union officials had leafleted two other shops organized by the amalgamated local - Eagle Electric and Cecilware -earlier in the week. Yellow school buses helped shuttle workers from Eagle to the rally.
The Standard Motors workers had been forced out on strike by company demands that included a three-year contract with no pay raise, a proposal to end medical benefits to retirees, requiring working members to pay $50 a month for their health coverage, and cuts in sick days and holidays. Eighteen workers had crossed the picket line during the strike.
The mood of the workers was overwhelmingly upbeat and defiant. "It's about time this large corporation gave some respect back to labor," said Paras Ramdeo, a worker with 22 years in the plant. "This should encourage other people like myself to be united and militant."
"While we're inside we're still going to fight," said Eddy Mary a 28-year veteran of the plant. The main complaint workers expressed as they discussed the settlement was returning in three waves over the next eight days. "We've been out for six weeks with our brothers and sisters and we should go back in together," Mary said. "Even so, we're still strong and ready to go out anytime the union says. We're fighting for a cause and we must win it."
Clara Morrow has worked at the plant for 40 years. "I didn't get scared when we started this fight and I'm not scared about fighting now," she said. "We came out here for our brothers and sisters and for a good cause. We are going back in with the same spirit we came out."
The unionists stood up to a highly organized company campaign to break the strike and the union. Strikebreakers from out of town arrived immediately after the strike began and lived inside the plant for several weeks. Special security guards were brought in. Letters were sent to the strikers at home attempting to pressure them to return to work. The letters tried to divide the union by blaming union officials for calling the strike. Some highly skilled workers received phone calls at home asking them to return to work.
Standard Motors is one of the 10 largest publicly traded company in Queens. It manufactures auto replacement parts. It's net earnings for the third quarter of this year were $10 million, a 39 percent increase over the same period a year ago.
Don Mackle is a member of UAW Local 365 at Cecilware.