"What Goodyear is asking from me is a house note and a car note. They want to push my wages back to less than I made 11 years ago. For others it means their job, period. We can't accept that."

On October 10, some 350 members of Local 347 of the International Union of Operating Engineers walked out at this plant, turning down a company proposal that would allow the bosses to contract out 150 union jobs and cut the pay of remaining operators by 20 percent. Maintenance workers, who are organized by several different unions and work under a different contract that runs for three more years, have remained in the plant.

As soon as the strike began, Goodyear immediately bused in replacements to fill the jobs of the striking workers. As the weeks have gone on the company increased pressure on individual strikers to return to work.

As of December 5, 69 members of the Local 347 bargaining unit have returned to work.

Union switchmen working for Union Pacific Railroad have refused to cross the picket line from the first day of the strike. Goodyear was forced to get a nonunion rail company to move the rail cars bringing in rubber to the plant.

Court orders directed strikers to stop following the company vans that transport scabs and to limit the number of pickets to six.

The strikers hold that line 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They have built a strike camp across the road under the highway overpass. There, sheltered from rain and winds, strikers gather daily, barbecue donated food, update their message board, share information, and take turns relieving the pickets. Other strikers collect donations from passing cars, and encourage honking in support. On the weekends in particular, whole families participate in strike activities.

On the Thanksgiving weekend, spirits were high on the picket line. A full table of food remained stocked with donations from individual workers, other unions, and other groups. "Friday we got a donation of 100 turkey dinners from unionists and church members in Texas City," reported striker Tim Risse. "We've had more food than we can eat."

Kesha Johnson, 15, and Meagan Hegman, 14, both daughters of strikers, spent the Saturday after Thanksgiving on the picket line. With buckets and strike flyers in hand, they stopped passing motorists, explained their case and asked for donations. According to Hegman, they also tell their friends at school why they should support the strikers. "Goodyear wants to bring in contract workers and pay them less than union workers," she explained. "Goodyear is just in it for the money. They don't care about workers," Johnson added.  
 
Contract workers also need union
Several unionists expressed concern for the conditions that contract workers face. Warner remembered when he worked for contractors. "You work with no benefits. I have done it. You hurt yourself and you have to hide it or you will be fired," he said.

"They are just like us. They are going to realize they need a union too," added Tim Risse.

Shakka Shabazz, who has worked at the Pasadena plant for 14 years, commented on Goodyear's contract offers. "On November 7 they gave us an offer that was even worse than the one that made us walk out October 10. In the second offer they asked us to pay 10 percent toward our insurance. And that's on top of the same cuts in jobs and pay."

"At the same time they are making record profits," Shabazz pointed out. "They are one of the top corporations in profits. These companies are very greedy. The only way unions are to become stronger is to get together."

Jacquie Henderson is a sewing machine operator in Houston.  
 
 
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