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   Vol. 70/No. 21           May 29, 2006  
 
 
On the Picket Line
 
Court rules Smithfield violated
workers’ right to organize union
A federal appeals court ruled May 8 that Smithfield Packing violated the rights of workers seeking to organize a union at its giant hog-kill plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina. The ruling upheld a cease-and-desist order that the National Labor Relations Board issued against Smithfield in 2004 in response to complaints filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers. The union lost a 1997 election by a 1,910 to 1,107 vote. The court ruling noted that Smithfield had confiscated union materials, spied on workers’ union activities, and threatened to fire those who voted for the union and freeze wages and shut the plant if workers voted to unionize. The judges ordered the company to give back pay to 10 workers fired for supporting the union, a union attorney told the Associated Press. The court also ruled Smithfield must reinstate four fired workers.

—Brian Williams  
 
Steelworkers rally for contract
at Charlotte, N.C., tire plant
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina—Chanting “No contract, no peace,” 500 United Steelworkers Local 850 members and supporters rallied here April 29 on the eve of the expiration of their contract with Continental Tire Co.

On May 1 the company declared an impasse in talks, imposed a 15 percent wage cut, and announced it would end tire production at the plant in the fall. It had demanded a 35 percent cut in wages and benefits.

“Steelworkers and others concerned will follow this company to the ends of the earth to expose the unfair ways they are treating employees,” Mark West, a member of the Local 850 executive board, said in an interview. Referring to a strike in 1998-99, West said, “I think that’s when a lot of people got involved in the union. They woke up a sleeping giant.”

—Rachele Fruit  
 
Toronto: Unionists reject pay
cuts, strike Progistix-Solutions
TORONTO—More than 200 members of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union Local 26, who repair and ship communications equipment, began a strike here April 22 against Progistix-Solutions Inc. The walkout began after 60 percent of the workers rejected the company’s concessions offer. Progistix, now owned by Canada Post, is demanding pay cuts of up to Can$3.48 per hour as well as reductions in pensions, vacations, and paid holidays (Can$1=U.S. 90 cents). “We went to Canada Post with an information picket and received a good response from unionists there,” John Pendyk told Militant reporters May 8 on the picket line. “Solidarity is needed more than ever nowadays,” added a material attendant who preferred not to give his name.

—Beverly Bernardo  
 
Unionists in Pittsburgh
condemn lack of mine safety
PITTSBURGH—Some 250 unionists gathered here April 28 for Workers’ Memorial Day to remember those killed on the job. This year’s event highlighted the spate of deaths in the coal mines. United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts told the rally, “We can put a man on the moon, but we can’t put a communications system in a mine here in the United States. We don’t have enough mine rescue teams in America. And we do nothing about it.”

Working and retired miners came from the southwestern Pennsylvania coalfields to attend the event. Chuck Knisell, a UMWA member at the Sago Mine, rang a bell with a sledgehammer as the name of each miner killed on the job over the past year was read aloud.

—Tony Lane  
 
University of Miami janitors
win card check system for union
MIAMI—University of Miami janitors returned to work May 3 after winning the agreement of contractor UNICCO Services for a card check system for union representation. A March 1 strike by a limited number of the 900 workers received broad support from workers and students on the campus and around the city. They seek representation with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 11.

The May 1 agreement between the contractor and the SEIU states that a 60 percent majority must sign cards by August 1 in order for the workers to win union recognition.

“I’m going to return with my head held high, protected by the name of the union, which is rare in the state of Florida,” said janitor Maritza Paz, the Miami Herald reported.

—Deborah Liatos  
 
 
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