Vol. 74/No. 39      October 18, 2010

This is the first time since 1977 that a strike has shut down New York City-area ports. The longshoremen returned to work at all ports September 30 after a federal judge ordered them back on the job and the bosses were asking the court to impose $1 million a day in fines.

The dockworkers, members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), were protesting their imminent layoff due to a decision by Del Monte Produce to move its fruit importing operations from Camden to nearby Gloucester City. This move eliminates some 200 union jobs.

“Without solidarity, we got nothing,” Camden longshoremen Kevin O’Hara, told the media.

The ILA had recently agreed to big concessions to Del Monte to keep their operations in Camden, including a wage cut from $31 an hour to $22.50 for some jobs and from $24.50 to $22 for others.

—Seth Galinsky

Kyrgyz gold miners strike
Canadian-owned firm
Workers at Centerra Gold’s Kumtor mine in Kyrgyzstan went on strike October 1. The mine accounts for one-quarter of the country’s industrial output last year and a third of all its exports. It employs about 1,000 workers.

The open-pit mine in the Tien Shan mountains is a joint venture of Canadian Centerra Gold, the Kyrgyz government, and other investors.

Centerra’s second-quarter profits jumped to $29.8 million as gold prices have soared. According to the Canadian Press, workers are demanding a 100 percent wage increase but the company has offered only 25 percent.

—Seth Galinsky

London: Coca-Cola workers
fight for higher wages
Workers at the north London Coca- Cola bottling plant, members of the Unite union, organized three six-hour strikes in September. Wayne King, Unite regional organizer, told the Militant workers are taking action to “oppose the company's imposition of a 2 percent wage offer,” and reduce the workers available to cover holiday relief.

Some 110 workers at the plant voted 8-1 to take action, conducting the first six-hour strike September 15. The nominal raise offer, they argue, is less than half the rate of inflation, and therefore equivalent to a pay cut.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola workers in Gent, Belgium, walked out September 22 following the company’s announcement of its eighth consecutive “restructuring” operation, which threatens to cut more than 400 jobs in Europe.

Coca-Cola workers in Atlanta are scheduled to vote October 7 on whether to organize themselves into the Teamsters union.

—Paul Davies

Strike closes 39 sawmills and
plywood plants in Finland
More than 4,000 forestry workers in Finland walked out October 1 after the Wood and Allied Workers’ Union and the bosses’ Finnish Forest Industries rejected a mediator’s proposal. The strike shut down 39 sawmills and plywood plants.

According to the online Trade Union News from Finland, the main dispute centers on bonuses based on seniority. The mediator proposed signing an agreement, but leaving bonuses up to future negotiations. Trade Union News reports that the seniority-based bonuses have traditionally been a significant part of workers’ income.

If an agreement is not reached by October 8, the union will expand the strike to the whole industry, involving as many as 18,000 workers.

—Seth Galinsky  
 
 
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