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.

CHICAGO - Some 120 members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 15271-02 have been on strike here at Tool and Engineering Co. since November 30. The company is demanding major concessions from the workers, including elimination of the current pension plan, establishment of a new series of labor grades and a system that would force workers to requalify for their job every year or be downgraded, cuts the union estimates would slash an average of $14,000 from a worker's pay and benefits each year, and a scheme that would cut vacation time.

The company does not claim to be suffering losses, but says concessions are necessary to defend its "competitive position." It has refused union demands to open its books for inspection.

Over December and January, the bosses told workers if the local did not accept the concessions, the plant would be closed, and demanded the membership vote on the contract and accept it by February 1. The strikers met January 31 and more than 100 of them voted to reject the blackmail offer. More than 40 picketed the plant the next morning to let the company know they were determined to continue to fight.

The strikers are a mix of Blacks, Latinos, and recent Eastern European immigrants. Workers say that before the strike, management made a concerted effort to divide the workforce by nationality and race. "Foremen would go to a group of Black workers and ask if they weren't mad that the new Eastern European immigrants were taking jobs," one striker said on the picket line. "Then they would go to the Eastern Europeans and ask them if they thought the Blacks were lazy."

Most of the dozen strikebreakers crossing the picket line each morning are Black, and the company has attempted to tell workers that the strike is a "racial matter." Since the company began pushing this line, the number of Black workers on the picket line has increased.

"This isn't a `racial matter'," Nathaniel, who is Black, told the Militant. "The company forced us all on strike here. And we're all together until we either get what we want or [owner William] Farley closes his plant down."

When the strike began, the company posted lights and security cameras on the plant roof, and they hired security cops.

The company called the city and the police to force the union to take down its picket shanty, claiming it blocked their view of the parking lot and was an obstacle to security. After wrangling back and forth, the union agreed to move its shanty 20 feet down the block.

In recent weeks the security forces have stepped up harassment of the strikers, including arresting pickets. Dozens of strikers turn out each day, especially at shift change times. The union has established a strike fund to help meet the workers' needs while the strike continues. Contributions can be made to USWA Local 15271-02 Strike & Defense Fund, 7218 W. 91st Street, Bridgeview, Illinois 60455.

Washington State ports: truckers seek to unionize
SEATTLE - A convoy of truckers and their supporters, blaring horns and waving signs, snaked through the Seattle waterfront February 16 in support of the Teamsters Local 174 drive to organize thousands of independent truck drivers who service the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. The drivers, most of whom are owner-operators of their trucks, have faced deteriorating wages and working conditions over the years. Web Beste, a leader of the organizing drive, explained that while piece rates per load have remained frozen for decades, "the costs of operating and maintaining a truck have soared over 300 percent. I work 12 to 14 hours a day and make between $6 and $8 an hour."

Another problem facing drivers is the long wait in the terminals for loads. Because the shipping bosses keep the piers understaffed, the drivers may wait four hours for a container. Many drivers also complain of insurance fee scams perpetrated by the trucking firms they drive for. For instance, some companies will add 10 or 20 percent to the fee they charge drivers over what they pay the insurance companies, and pocket the difference.

Upcoming events in the organizing drive include a joint march of Teamsters and Longshoremen in early April to greet a ship brought to the port by the International Transport Workers Federation. The ship, now in Chile, features exhibits highlighting labor struggles on the seas and in ports all over the world.

Paperworkers push back layoff threat in Sweden
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Workers at ASSI Kraftliner in Pitea, northern Sweden, were informed in October 1998 that 154 jobs would be cut at the factory, which today employs 600. The four unions at the factory all declared the cut unacceptable. A joint union meeting of 500 workers January 11 supported this position.

The company persisted, and on February 11 announced its "final offer" - 110 would lose their jobs within a year. "They must not cut one single job. We are already short of people. We cannot keep production going if they cut more," paperworker Niclas Lundqvist told the press. The following day 30 workers called in sick, enough to stop production entirely. Paper production is very mechanized and depends on continuous production.

The company demanded a doctor's notice from the first day of a sick leave, hoping to force workers back. In Sweden you generally don't need a doctor's notice until the seventh day of an illness. Their tactic backfired. Many of those who visited the doctor got instructions to stay off work longer - five of them for three or four weeks. "The demand from the company had one good side to it, people were forced to go to the doctor," said union steward Ingvar Lundstrom. "In many cases it proved long overdue The company withdrew the demand for a doctor's note, and on February 17 agreed to resume negotiations with the unions. It still maintains that 110 people have to be laid off, but over three years, not one. The unions oppose any layoffs.

One union signs contract with Detroit newspapers
DETROIT - "Under the circumstances, it is the best we could hope for, I guess," is how Glen Libby, a member of Detroit Typographical Union (DTU) Local 18, described the contract accepted by his union on February 14. "But," he continued, "we shouldn't have accepted it with the other locals out."

DTU Local 18, now part of the Communication Workers of America, is the only one of the six unions that struck this city's two daily newspapers in July 1995 to reach an agreement. According to local president Sam Attard, the local represents nearly 100 of 2,400 workers who walked out at the News, Free Press, and their joint management, Detroit Newspapers. The six unions - including the Newspaper Guild (also now part of the CWA), two Teamster locals, and two locals of the Graphics and Communication International Union -made an unconditional offer to return to work in February 1997, ending the strike.

The 10-year DTU contract includes an annual 2 percent pay increase, starting next year, with a "me too" clause promising if the other unions settle for higher raises the printers will receive that amount. It also includes a $70,000 voluntary buyout, to be paid over 3, 5, or 10 years, for workers with "lifetime jobs." Health benefits for those who accept the buyouts will continue for five years or until the age of 70, whichever comes first.

About 90 printers have guaranteed lifetime jobs, stemming from a 1974 contract. The newspapers want to get rid of these workers. Hoping to demoralize them and force many to retire, printers under age 65 who were covered under the 1974 agreement were taken back into work in groups when the union officials ended the strike, but given nothing to do. Libby, who has worked at the Free Press since 1971, said they were "sitting in the building doing nothing for six or eight months."

Local members expressed varying opinions on the contract settlement, which was approved by a vote of 62 to 18. Barbara Ingalls, one of the seven local members who worked part-time before the strike and who are not covered under this agreement, said it was approved "because it included the fired and retired workers, as well as the workers inside the building."

Gary Rusnell, a fired printer, declared, "I want justice and this isn't justice." He pointed out that the buyout isn't "offering me much. I would have to sign a waiver giving up any claims to back pay." He estimates that if the courts find in favor of the striking unions, he would be owed over $50,000 and payments into the union retirement fund. "The only good thing to come out of it is a 10-year contract. They can't decertify the union as long as we have a contract."

There are few signs that the other five unions are close to contract settlements. The company continues to ignore National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) orders to reinstate members of the unions who went on strike. The company admits that almost 580 workers have not been called back to work in the two years since the strike ended.

Locked-out newspaper workers continue protests at the newspaper offices. Forty locked-out workers and supporters staged a "scab shout" outside the Detroit Newspapers building February 10. Ingalls reports that newspaper unionists are organizing a rush hour protest March 2. "We're showing them that we don't plan to go away until all the locked-out workers are back to work with union contracts."

Canada gold miners stand firm against bosses
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - "The Con Mine bosses wanted to control the hours of work in a seven-day schedule. That means getting rid of overtime for weekends, getting rid of free weekends to spend time with our families. Our membership mandated the negotiating committee to accept no concessions," Cliff Moroz, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 802, said in a phone interview. The USWA local represents 160 gold miners who have been on strike since May 15, 1998, against Miramar Corp., which owns the Con Gold mine in Yellowknife, North West Territories. Picket lines are up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The mine bosses are not attempting to run the mine.

The company is using the pretext of low gold prices to demand concessions from union miners. They had tried to take away the northern allowance, the energy package of $25 per month and 800 gallons of fuel that each miner is entitled to. At the last minute the company withdrew this concession. The USWA strikers have not had a pay raise in seven years, Moroz added.

The gold miners at the Con mine have a history of support for the struggle of the gold miners at the nearby Giant Mine owned by Royal Oak Mines, who waged an 18-month strike in 1992-93. Strike support has been great according to the USWA. Small businesses bring donuts, coffee, and pizza to the picket. Support and financial contributions have come from CAW, PSAC, CUPE, other USWA locals.

Letters of support and financial contributions can be sent USWA local 802, Box 802, Yellowknife, NWT, X1A 2N3.

John Studer, a USWA member in Chicago; Jeff Ford, a member of the United Transportation Union in Seattle; Anita Ostling in Stockholm; John Sarge, a member of the United Auto Workers in Detroit; and Ned Dmytryshyn, a member of the International Association of Machinists in Vancouver, contributed to this column.  
 
 
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