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BATLOW, Australia - Workers at the Mountain Maid cannery here set up picket lines July 7 after being escorted out of the plant by police.
The 46 workers are members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. The cannery processes peas, corn, asparagus, and apple juice. Batlow, a rural town of 1,700 people located five hours southwest of Sydney, is known for its apple orchards.
Suspecting the bosses were planning to close the cannery, workers had demanded a guarantee that their entitlements were protected. The company refused.
Cindy Skein, a union delegate at the cannery, and Michael Daley, who is in charge of the fitters (mechanics), spoke with Militant worker-correspondents visiting the picket line to offer solidarity.
Skein explained that for the last year things hadn't looked too good at the cannery, and over the last couple of months the situation had gotten worse. When the owner put the corn harvester up for sale, workers got worried the cannery was going to close. Two years ago the pea harvester had been sold, and no peas have been processed since, she said.
When growers contract with Mountain Maid, the company provides seed, pesticides, harvesting, and trucking to the plant. When they decided to sell the corn harvester, the owners sent a memo to growers saying they could continue to have their corn processed by Mountain Maid but they would have to buy their own seed and pesticides, as well as contract some other outfit to harvest and truck their crop. This is not a viable set up for the growers, Skein and Daley explained.
Mountain Maid bosses kept claiming they had no intention of closing. The owners claimed they just wanted to concentrate production on apples, but orchardists have their own modern processing plant in town. Mountain Maid only gets poorer quality apples for juicing.
After hearing about the Oakdale miners who lost all of their entitlements when the colliery closed, union members decided to take action before the same thing happened to them. So, beginning midnight July 5 they banned all stock and equipment from leaving the site. They estimated there was A$6 million in stock at the plant.
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission ordered workers to lift the bans July 7. When they refused, police took them out of the cannery and the workers set up their picket line.
Although only 46 workers are employed year-round, the workforce swells to up to 300 during corn and asparagus seasons, Skein said. These seasonal workers often go back and forth between Mountain Maid and the growers cooperative.
More than 150 people attended a community support meeting for the cannery workers July 8. Skein said the meeting included growers, the publican, postmaster, a local doctor and shopkeepers who closed to attend. While we were at the picket line a local supporter turned up with a big kettle of warm food and another dropped off a load of firewood. Temperatures on the picket line were below freezing at night.
The fight received coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald, the local Tumut and Adelong Times, and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television news.
On July 9 AMWU organizer Jenny Dowell reported at the picket line that Mountain Maid's owners had backed off. The bosses had agreed to meet with union officials and Staged Developments Australia (SDA) had agreed to underwrite workers' entitlements. SDA is Australia's largest pension fund and is half owned by the unions. SDA owns half of the investment company behind the Mountain Maid cannery.
Workers have kept picket lines up, saying progress was being made. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, they returned to work on July 15 after the SDA told union officials the company would "maintain long-term legal responsibility for entitlements regardless of who owned the company."
Philadelphia: nurses demand hospital cuts end
PHILADELPHIA - Nurses and medical technicians at Episcopal
Hospital held a spirited rally of more than 100 people July
12 to wrap up a two-day strike demanding Temple University
Health Systems stop cutting services at the hospital and
negotiate a union contract with Health Professionals and
Allied Employees Local 5106. Temple, which acquired Episcopal
in December, responded to the strike of about 250 nurses by
laying off 140 union and nonunion workers.
Sue Clements, one of the striking nurses, told the Militant, "This strike is about saving Episcopal. I've worked here for 27 years. This hospital was a very vital part of the community. It provides jobs and the community organizations use the resources. Since Temple came in there has been a massive reduction in services. They haven't looked at the community's needs. Episcopal has one of the few residential rehabilitation programs for women and children in Philadelphia."
Clements echoed the sentiments expressed by Maria Rosa, who spoke as a leader of the Latina Mo Mobile, a prenatal service. Temple's cuts "defeat everything we are trying to do. This is already a community in crisis. The infant mortality rate compares to a third world country."
Supporters at the rally came from a number of other unions. Donald Kirk, from Operating Engineers Local 835 at Temple Hospital, was there because, "This is only going to spread. Our jobs are just as much in jeopardy." Eight of the laid-off workers at Episcopal are members of Operating Engineers.
Nurses from a Lower Bucks hospital explained the Episcopal nurses had supported them in several one-day strikes they held last year to get their first contract. Nurses from several other hospitals run by Temple University Health Systems came to show solidarity. Temple's contact with 700 nurses at their main hospital expires September 30.
Brick workers stand up to lockout, cop harassment
WILLIAMSPORT, Maryland -Workers at Redland Brick Co. near
here have been picketing since June 18 after voting down a
contract 88-4. The proposal had been endorsed by Teamsters
officials, according to the Hagerstown Herald-Mail.
Members of Teamsters Local 992 describe what happened as a lock-out, because the company shut the plant and suspended negotiations when they heard that the contract offer had been voted down.
Across the road from the brick plant, workers in a large tannery organized by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees put signs of support for pickets in the windows, until their bosses made them take the signs down. Many motorists honk in support of the spirited picket line. The company and local law enforcement are literally working overtime to dampen this spirit, with no apparent success. Washington County Sheriff's Deputies patrol the picket line 24 hours a day to enforce an injunction the company obtained July 1. The county cops are on duty to enforce the injunction in uniform and squad car, but are paid overtime rates by Redland.
Redland cooked up this agreement with the county sheriffs even before the lockout or injunction, according to the Hagerstown Herald-Mail. Sheriff Charles Mades told the newspaper that the company is paying the deputies time-and-a- half wages to "keep the peace" at the plant.
But it's clear company profits are what the cops are being paid to protect. The July 1 injunction restricts the picket line to 15, bars damage to company property, and warns pickets against "intimidating" scabs. The injunction also limits the number of chairs and coolers to two and forbids cook-out grills. On hearing of these restrictions, one neighbor of the plant volunteered her kitchen and yard facilities to the pickets. Company security cops video tape every move on the picket line from less than 20 feet away. This provocative behavior is protected by the sheriff's deputies, who stand beside the security cops.
In separate incidents deputies have cited three strikers for violating the injunction. The company is attempting to terminate all three workers. The county police were not on hand, however, to prevent three strikers from being injured by a truck crossing the picket line.
Retirement is the most important issue in the contract dispute, according to Teamsters member Bernard Henson. Currently, the retirement age is 62 no matter how many years of labor you have in at the brick plant. He introduced one worker on the picket line with more than 43 years' seniority who would receive just $520 per month if he retired today.
Another issue is sick pay, or some way to take vacation a day at a time, so that workers don't risk losing their jobs when they are sick.
Ron Poulsen, member of the Maritime Union of Australia, and Joanne Kuniansky, member of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, in Sydney; Connie Allen, member United Auto Workers Local 1076 in Philadelphia; and David Salner contributed to this column.