Some 200 workers have been on strike against Point Blank since August 9. They walked off the job after the third discriminatory firing by the company in response to the workers’ fight to win recognition for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). Point Blank employs 375 people and is one of the major garment shops in South Florida. It makes bulletproof vests and riot gear sold to the U.S. military and police forces.

Dozens of strikers have been picketing the plant. "On August 18, officials of the city of Oakland Park came and told us we had to take down our tents in front of the plant because our presence ‘impedes the flow of water,’" said Sadius Isma at the August 28 rally. Isma was the first worker fired for his union activities.

"We have been speaking to those who cross the picket lines and have won some of them to our struggle," Isma said, "and the company doesn’t like that. We have refused to take the tents down and so far the police haven’t tried to enforce the city order." The same week, the police prohibited morning picketing at the start of the shift directly in front of the main entrance to the factory, Isma said.

The company has continued production during the strike with those crossing the picket lines and dozens of replacement workers, Isma and other workers pointed out.

"The workers at Point Blank demand our civil rights and our rights as workers," Virginia, one of the strikers, told the rally, to cheers. "We will continue our struggle until we get union recognition despite all the restrictions by the company and the city."

Others who addressed the rally included Loyola Brown, a vice president of UNITE and the union’s national director for civil rights, and representatives of the Carpenters Union, Transport Workers Union, Jobs with Justice, and Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.  
 
 
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