BY LAURA GARZA AND ROBERTO GUERRERO
PASADENA, Texas - Members of at least 20 union locals from
several states, as well as a representative of the Black Farmers
and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA), joined workers locked
out from the Crown Central Petroleum refinery for a "Solidarity
for Justice Rally" February 5. The day of pickets and rallies
marked the third anniversary of their struggle.
"We're standing up - and fighting back," was one chant by dozens of people picketing Crown's offices, located by the plant on a major thoroughfare. Willie Evans, on strike against Titan Tire in Natchez, Mississippi, led the crowd in the spirited picketing that began the day shortly after the 11:00 a.m. gathering at the nearby union hall.
Among those at the picket line were a dozen members of the Catfish Workers of America from Belzoni, Mississippi; about a dozen members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) initially on strike and now locked out by Kaiser Aluminum; Eddie Slaughter, vice president of the BFAA from Buena Vista, Georgia; and several members of USWA Local 303L on strike against Titan. More than 100 people joined in the events throughout the day.
The Crown workers are members of Paperworkers, Allied- Industrial and Chemical Employees (PACE) Local 4-227 (formerly the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers). They were locked out in February 1996 after refusing a contract that included deep concessions such as elimination of seniority and massive contracting out of jobs. To justify the lockout, the company claimed acts of sabotage had been committed. These slanders were widely reported in the press and the company called in the FBI. In spite of the company's offer of a reward, no evidence was ever uncovered of sabotage. The workers have stuck to their battle stations, fighting to make clear the real issue in the lockout is Crown's attempt to shove a union-busting contract down their throats.
In response, Crown filed a civil suit accusing more than a dozen union members again with sabotage. Local 4-227 member Dean Cook explained the facts of the fight at Crown as he opened up a rally at the union hall after everyone returned from the first of two picket lines. He stated "the suit could be an open door to invite the FBI back. We're in depositions now that the company could drag out and we won't even get into court for a year." In the weeks preceding the rally one union member, Phyllis Miller, was subjected to a six-hour session of questioning by the company's lawyers.
Carol Paresson, wife of locked-out Crown worker Paul Paresson, kicked off the speakers list stating, "During the last three years I've met some fantastic people and I know they're all smart enough not to have sabotaged something as volatile as a refinery," taking the risk of blowing themselves up.
Farmers struggle to keep their land
Eddie Slaughter of the BFAA explained the fight of Black
farmers currently involved in a suit against the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) for discrimination. "When I was invited
here I said I need to find out more about this Crown fight and I
found we're fighting the same people. They accused you of
sabotage. The USDA is trying to do the same to us, charging us
with misuse of funds."
Through a three-year fight the farmers won a court ruling that farmers who are Black could be considered a class in their lawsuit, based on decades discrimination by the USDA in providing loans and assistance. The government is currently pushing a consent decree that they hope will end the fight by paying $50,000 to most farmers in the suit and canceling some debts.
"It does make a difference what we do," Slaughter said. "When we first filed they laughed, but we filled the courtroom for every hearing. And when they moved us to the biggest courtroom we filled that too, and they're not laughing anymore."
"Our problem is the same, at Kaiser, Crown, the catfish workers. They want us all to fight our little battles. They use racism to keep us divided by design. They could not deal with us all together," he said. "Unity is a must; we wouldn't have gotten to the point we're at now without it." Slaughter urged everyone to join the farmers at a March 2 rally in Washington, D.C., "to demand a just settlement, not just a settlement."
A lively discussion developed as each speaker added their experiences. "What's the size of the average farm of Black farmers?" asked Kaiser worker Tom Howell from Spokane, Washington. He added, "In the Northwest we raise a lot of soft wheat. The government is using this as a political tool [in a war with foreign competitors]. They have driven the price down to where it costs farmers more to produce it than they can earn selling it."
Slaughter responded, "Yes, the same thing is happening to all farmers, to white farmers too. We're just losing land at a three- to-one ratio. We're hurting more, so we started hollering first."
Many in the crowd began discussing plans to attend the attend March 2 event.
`Tired of being sick and tired'
Joanne Hogan spoke on behalf of the Catfish Workers of
America. On Nov. 16, 1998, Freshwater Farms in Belzoni,
Mississippi, fired 68 workers, all of them Black and the
majority of them women. They had protested working conditions
that included a seven-minute time limit for restroom use, unsafe
and unsanitary work conditions, racial discrimination, and a
general hostile and degrading environment.
"We were sick and tired of being sick and tired," said Hogan, explaining they walked out that day to try to force management to negotiate some of these problems. The fired workers, she said, "have gotten very little help. The company called the unemployment office and said, `Don't give them help,' and only recently did a few of the workers get some food stamps."
Hogan said that the 68 fired were the majority of the union membership, and she was a shop steward of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1529. So far neither the company nor the union local will accept a grievance they prepared, but they are pursuing a way get this done. The fired workers formed the Catfish Workers of America, with the help of local activists from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), to organize support for their struggle. Their effort includes a 12- page appeal, plus documentation of their grievances against the company, which they made available to rally participants.
Barbara Beln, who has worked in the catfish plant for more than seven years, told these reporters they had just come from an appeal the day before at the unemployment office, fighting the company's attempts to deny them all compensation. They are currently awaiting the outcome of that hearing. She added, "Freshwater called up employers to urge them not to hire any of the 68 workers."
Prompted by the conditions described by Hogan and other catfish workers Willie Evans from the Titan strike, proposed raising "a generous donation. We could do it locally and also ask our unions to donate when we get back." The crowd took a collection on the spot of some $400.
Kaiser, Titan fights
Tom Howell explained the fight of some 3,000 workers at
Kaiser Aluminum plants in Spokane and Tacoma, Washington;
Newark, Ohio; and Gramercy, Louisiana. About a dozen strikers
have done two-week stints in Houston building support for their
strike and picketing the headquarters of the Maxxam Corp., which
owns Kaiser. "We're facing tycoons - ours is [Maxxam chief]
Charles Hurwitz - who are out to take everything they can and
leave us high and dry," he stated. Kaiser is demanding job cuts,
contracting out, and ending seniority rights.
Evans described the strike against Titan Tire's plants in Des Moines, Iowa, and Natchez, Mississippi. Workers struck the Des Moines plant in May 1998. The Natchez workers were locked out September 4, and declared a strike September 15. Maurice Taylor, Titan's owner, is trying to impose deep concessions including gutting seniority and cutting pension and health-care benefits.
Dean Alexander and Jim Byrd, representatives of PACE, also addressed the crowd in the afternoon. Byrd read a letter to the rally from PACE president Boyd Young. PACE was formed in January from a merger of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers union and the United Paperworkers International Union (see article on page 23).
Oil workers from a number of other locals around Houston and from the Beaumont/Port Arthur area also participated, along with official representatives of PACE from the district and international level. As well, members of the Machinists union, a union of seafaring engineers, postal workers, and Richard Shaw, of the Harris County AFL-CIO joined in the activities.
The morning and afternoon actions at the plant gate were the largest in the last year, though the members of 4-227 have maintained pickets throughout the three-year battle at Crown.
During the second session at around 4:00 p.m., a militant picket line was posted where workers usually have to cross a street from the parking lot to enter the plant. But the company had everyone park inside the refinery grounds that day to avoid having to pass by the pickets. A car caravan and picket line of Crown workers and supporters held up vehicles from leaving for some time. Cheers went up when the pickets succeeded in turning back a truck trying to make a delivery to the plant. Company guards had a heavy presence, including videotaping the picket line and car caravan.
Tom Boots, a locked-out Crown worker, commented on the spirited participation of steelworkers, catfish workers, and others. "For the first time the people inside saw that we are not alone," he said. "We are not just people begging for their jobs back."
Crown worker Belinda Case noted, "The workers who came, the conversations, and the general camaraderie" made it a great day. "It was we the workers who did it, and it was workers who came and shared their experiences. It was a great success."
In the February 7 Pasadena Citizen, a spokesperson for Crown griped that such rallies "only stir the rancor of union members and serve no useful purpose in resolving the issues - a resolution which can only come at the bargaining table."
Flyers for upcoming actions in support of many of the struggles represented were passed around, including for an event to honor the catfish workers. The Buffalo Fish Festival will be held April 10, sponsored by the Catfish Workers of America and the Mississippi Delta chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. For more information call (601) 247-1471 or (601) 247-3364.
Kaiser workers encouraged participation in actions at the federal courthouse in Houston at noon, February 16, where Maxxam is facing trial for its role in the largest savings and loan failure in Texas; and a picket the next day at one of Hurwitz's homes.
Laura Garza is a member of International Association of Machinists Local 969 in Houston. Roberto Guerrero is a member of the Young Socialists. Dave Ferguson contributed to this article.