Calderón was describing a major victory for workers here. Point Blank, one of the largest garment manufacturers in the state, producing bullet-proof vests for the Army and police, agreed to recognize the UNITE union at its Oakland Park plant, one of the company’s three facilities in south Florida. Oakland Park is in Broward County, just north of Ft. Lauderdale. After a struggle that lasted more than two years, the company threw in the towel and signed its first contract with the union. Workers ratified the agreement April 19.

Management had earlier threatened workers it would rather close shop than recognize the union.

“The company has recognized the union based on a showing of union authorization cards, confirmed by a neutral third party,” a press release issued by DHB, Point Blank’s parent company, conceded. “[A] majority of employees at the Oakland Park facility have indicated their desire for union representation.”

DHB Industries specializes in producing protective body armor for the armed forces and various police agencies. DHB Sports Group produces and markets a line of athletic supports and braces.

According to the company’s press release, DHB maintains facilities in Westbury, New York; Jacksboro, Tennessee; and Arlington, Virginia, in addition to the three south Florida plants.

The company had fiercely resisted the union-organizing campaign, after a large majority had signed union authorization cards. When a delegation of workers went to the bosses in July 2002 demanding management recognize UNITE, the company responded by ordering a police-enforced one-day lockout and by firing two union militants.

Workers walked out in August 2002 to protest the firing of a third union supporter, beginning what turned into a six-month strike. One hundred seventy-five workers kept the picket line outside the plant strong, while the company continued production with workers who crossed the picket line and replacements recruited during the strike.  
 
Company said it would ‘crush strike’
One worker, who started the job during the strike but later became a union supporter, recalled how during the walkout the company president once got up on a table inside the plant and told workers, “I am going to crush those snakes.”

“He started stamping his feet like he was killing snakes,” the worker said. “He nearly fell off the table!”

Among the former strikers are workers born in countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean: Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru. A large number are from Haiti. On the picket lines, Haitian workers learned to chant union slogans in Spanish. Latino workers in turn learned more than one song in Creole.

Because of the strength of the unionists on the line, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Point Blank had trampled on workers’ rights. In February 2003, the NLRB imposed an injunction—often referred to as a 10(j)—ordering the company to take back all the strikers and reinstate the three fired unionists, and to refrain from threatening to close the plant or cut hours in response to the union drive.

After six months on strike, the union militants returned to work with a victory under their belts.

The company opened a second factory in nearby Deerfield Beach in response, transferring 100 strikebreakers there. The new plant was used to expand production of the Interceptor vest—in short supply and standard-issue for the U.S. occupying armies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Point Blank is the major supplier of these vests, which sell for $1,500 each. The company intended to keep the new facility union-free.

Gains from the strike, even before union recognition, were readily apparent at Oakland Park. Before the walkout, many workers say, bathrooms frequently were without soap, paper towels, or toilet paper. After the strike the bathrooms stayed supplied.

Many workers describe how the company repeatedly stepped on their dignity before the strike. “One of the supervisors walked through the plant one day with a bottle of water and told workers, ‘that’s all you need for one day,’” one worker said. “They said we were taking too much time getting up for water and going to the bathroom.”

Now there are several water coolers around the plant and workers get up and get water whenever they need it.

The company suffered a further blow when the NLRB ruled in October 2003 that for the purposes of union representation, the two factories were one bargaining unit.

The NLRB ordered a representation election covering both plants, and extended the 10(j) protection to workers at the Deerfield Beach factory.

Despite its hypocritical claim to favor union elections, the company appealed that decision and elections were not held. UNITE organizers said that a fair election was impossible, given Point Blank’s consistent violation of worker’s rights. Instead, union organizers pushed for winning union recognition through a “card count.”  
 
Workers refused to give up
In the face of hostility and legal maneuvering by management, workers did not let go. Unionists rallied to celebrate one-year anniversaries of key dates in their struggle such as the lock-out and the start of the strike. Most recently they rallied on “Broom Day”—the day they got back on the job in February 2003, when they were all given brooms and told to clean the factory.

New workers at both plants continued to sign up for the union. Red UNITE T-shirts never went out of fashion at the Oakland Park facility. More than once unionists in the plant organized delegations of workers to go into the company offices to get an answer to problems on the shop floor. Visible gatherings of union supporters took place almost daily outside the plant.

Company spokespeople tried to put a good spin on the agreement. “We just did what’s in the best interests of the company,” David Brooks, chairman and chief executive of DHB Industries, told the Miami Herald. “We want to get on with our business, rather than wasting time.” DHB put $2.7 million of its profits into bonuses for “key employees and executives” last year, and claimed an additional $63.3 million in “gross profit.”

The company agreed to union recognition for UNITE during a major expansion and reorganization. In April they opened a third facility—their largest, with 104,000 square feet, in nearby Pompano Beach.  
 
Union members see it differently
“He did not give in because he wanted to,” said Elizabeth Pastor, a UNITE member who took part in the strike, after the contract was signed. “It was because we never let up the pressure. We won a contract that he said he would never accept.”

The agreement was reached after about two months of talks “off-the-record,” UNITE spokesperson Luke Brindle told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Under the terms of the agreement, all litigation between the company and the union has been dropped, including contested NLRB proceedings and the 10(j) injunction. The company is also dropping a lawsuit accusing UNITE of defamation for charging that the company had been manufacturing defective bulletproof vests.

In the two weeks before the contract vote, 100 workers from Oakland Park who had not joined UNITE were transferred to the Pompano facility, along with much of the factory’s equipment, fabric, and supplies.

Union members stayed at Oakland Park and were joined by about 30 workers from the Deerfield facility—12 miles away —who had signed union cards in the last two years.

The company had claimed for a year that Deerfield was a separate company as a ploy in its attempt to keep the union out.

Management organized the moves in a way designed to maximize insecurity among both union members and workers who have not joined the union.

One afternoon, about 15 workers at Deerfield Beach were told to attend a meeting at Oakland Park at 8:00 a.m. the next day. When asked if this meant they would now be assigned to work there, the company spokespeople claimed they didn’t know.

When the workers showed up at the meeting, they were immediately put to work at Oakland Park. A former Deerfield sewer who was transferred to Oakland Park, commented, “I’m for the union, but I want to work at the Deerfield plant and have a union there.”

The company treated nonunion workers like machines, too. Many were given five minutes to pack their things and head over to the new Pompano Beach location.

The new contract goes into effect April 26. It allows union representatives access to the plant, and provides a union bulletin board, a grievance procedure, and shop-steward representation. The contract also includes a provision for an increase in paid sick and personal leave days, a company-funded 401(K) retirement plan to be administered by UNITE, a $270 signing bonus, and wage increases of 25 cents an hour each year for five years.

“I am very happy,” sewing machine operator Virginia Salazar told the Militant. She was a leading unionists during the strike. “It is what we were hoping for. The union is what guarantees respect on the job. The gains are more job security and that they respect workers’ rights. It wasn’t just for money that we did what we did, but for dignity.”

Many manufacturing workers are paid around the minimum wage in South Florida and most plants are nonunion. The Point Blank fight has been watched closely by the business press and by workers in the area. Miami is a center for clothing manufacture, which in recent years has been run almost completely nonunion.

Point Blank has a history of denying overtime and scheduling layoffs as a tool for punishing workers who stand up to the company. For two weeks, as the company transferred workers between Oakland Park and Pompano, it eliminated overtime at the Oakland Park plant.

At the end of the first day of the new contract, the company announced more stringent work rules including making workers stay at their machines until break bells ring, prohibiting workers from eating in their work areas even though lunch room facilities are grossly inadequate, and instructing workers to take home microwaves used for heating their meals, even though the company has no plans to replace those with new microwaves.

Workers greeted the new rules with a tremendous outcry: booing, hissing, and interrupting the managers. Many workers, disgusted with the company plan, punched out and went home while the managers were still talking.

“During the strike, the owner, David Brooks, said that we were snakes,” said Beatriz Pereira, a sewer. “He spit at us, he gave us the finger. Well, now the snakes are inside. For that I am happy. The raise is small, but I think that in the circumstances it’s the best we can get. The most important thing is now we have the union.”

Eric Simpson and Seth Galinsky are members of UNITE at Point Blank Body Armor.
 
 
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