We invite you to contribute short items to this column as a way for other fighting workers around the world to read about and learn from these important struggles. Jot down a few lines about what is happening in your union, at your workplace, or other workplaces in your area, including interesting political discussions.
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - "Defeat is not an option" was the message broadcast from loudspeakers on top of the lead vehicle in a 40-strong line of trucks that left the TranzLink owner- drivers' Auckland picket line for a convoy through the city December 5. Through pickets and other actions, owner-drivers are protesting the terms of new contracts the company is trying to impose on them.
TranzLink is the road haulage subsidiary of TranzRail, the formerly state-owned rail network that was sold to private investors in 1993. It contracts 322 drivers nationally. The drivers own their vehicles, and have to meet the costs of financing and maintaining them from the payments they receive from the company. Since December 1, drivers in Auckland, Hamilton, and Christchurch have setup 24-hour picket lines outside TranzLink depots.
"Under these new contracts, 99 percent of us will go broke," Patrick Neeley, a spokesperson for the drivers, told the Militant at the Auckland picket line. A leaflet handed out by the drivers explains that the company wants to reduce their income "to a subsistence wage level but with all the administration burdens and business risks of a conventional contractor." "The contract has a `life' of only 30 days, after which time the owner-driver, who may be financially committed to a vehicle costing up to $350,000, can be subjected to a cut in rates or be terminated," the leaflet continues. "[C]ontractors will be forced to reduce expenditure on such items as tyres, brakes, and general repair and maintenance resulting in an ever- increasing number of unsafe vehicles on the roads."
The drivers estimate that under the new contracts their incomes will fall between 30 and 40 percent. Some face bigger cuts. "I could lose 80 percent," John Anderson said. He explained he used to drive for wages, but that two and a half years ago he and his wife Joanne both became owner-drivers. They are paying off two vehicles, a container-carrying rig and a truck and trailer unit. More than twelve-hour working days are commonplace for drivers. "We're here before five in the morning, and never finish before five in the evening," Anderson said.
Trade unionists have shown solidarity with the picketing drivers. In Christchurch members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union who load and unload the trucks refused to cross the picket line for the first six days of the action. In Auckland members and officials of the Northern Distribution Union, which organizes wage workers in the transport industry, have visited the picket line. "We welcome their support," Neeley said.
Many TranzLink drivers are members of the Combined Owner- Drivers Association. The association in Christchurch is conducting negotiations with the company on behalf of the drivers nationwide. The company complained to the November 23 Christchurch Press the association was "trying to act like a union."
British Columbia nurses strike for 1,400 new jobs
VANCOUVER, Canada -Members of the British Columbia Nurses
Union (BCNU) set up picket lines for three days at five British
Columbia hospitals November 27. The action was followed by
strikes at five hospitals beginning November 30, including
Vancouver General, the largest in the province. Nurses at
Nanaimo Regional Hospital, however, refused to take down their
picket lines. The collective agreement between the hospital
bosses and the BCNU, which represents 25,000 nurses, expired
March 31. The union had planned to call out nurses at 35
additional hospitals November 30, but pulled back in what they
described as a "sign of good faith" in response to the
government appointment of a mediator to negotiations.
According to Maureen Corness and Elly Brouwer, two nurses walking the picket line at St. Paul's Hospital on the first day of the strike, "the main issues are workload and the lack of nurses. There is no incentive to go into nursing. Young people don't want to go into it because of the workload. And they aren't hiring into empty positions."
The BCNU stated that British Columbia has lost 1,600 nursing positions since 1993. And today out of 26,000 nurses, only 400 are under the age of 25.
In mid-November, the government offered CAN$45 million that would result in the hiring of 600 more nurses. In return, the hospitals demanded that the nurses give up all of their other demands.
The union is demanding that 1,400 more nurses be hired throughout the province. This would help reduce the great amount of overtime that nurses are being asked to work. In northern BC some hospital nurses have worked 24 hours straight. In some long-term care facilities, night-duty nurses can be responsible for as many as 236 patients.
Carrying signs in support of the nurses at St. Paul's were a large number of hospital workers from the Hospital Employees' Union (HEU) and the Health Sciences Association who are refusing to cross the picket line. Carmen, an HEU member at St. Paul's, said "I support the nurses because they support health care." Asked about the government's position that there is no more money, she replied, "they can find money to send people to war so they can find money for health care."
Skychefs strikers win more support in Britain
LONDON, England - At a meeting held December 4, union
representatives across Heathrow airport pledged their support
for more than 200 workers sacked two weeks ago by airline
catering company LSG Skychefs for taking part in a one-day
strike. "If Skychefs get away with this, the same thing will
happen across the airport," said Garth King, Transport and
General Workers Union (TGWU) convenor at the factory. "We have
total support, which will include money from branches and from
collections," he added. There are some 30,000 TGWU members at
Heathrow.
Avtar Moom, a young woman striker said, "We're getting so much support on the picket line. We have a strike fund and the Martindale temple in Hounslow is bringing us food." Others reported visits from Abela Gate and Gate Gourmet workers, two other catering companies at the airport. "British Airways cabin crews have also been down and gave us their support and money," said King.
The sacked workers have set up 24-hour pickets on a rotating system. Directly outside the factory they have organized tent shelters, braziers against the cold, a toilet, and a port-a- cabin to serve as an organizing center.
The International Transport Federation (ITF) estimates that LSG Skychef is the biggest airline catering company in the world, with about a third of the world market. The one-day strike, one of four projected, was called after the company imposed new working practices on all workers. Driving and loading teams were cut to one person from the two or more used before, and work in the kitchens and wash-up was speeded up and made harder.
Strikers report that Skychef has lost two airline contracts, and Air France and Iberia are "back-catering" or loading planes with food for both the outward and return flight at the start of the journey.
"It's disgusting how they treat us," said Ajit Virdee, a young woman striker. "They want to employ people here who have zips on their mouths, which they can open and close when it suits them."
Terry Coggan, a member of the Engineers Union in Auckland, New Zealand, and Annalucia Vermunt, a member of the Service and Food Workers Union in Christchurch; Mike Barker, a member of the Hospital Employees' Union at Vancouver General Hospital; and Caroline Bellamy, TGWU member at Ford, Dagenham, Celia Pugh, and James Neil in Britain contributed to this column.