Vol. 75/No. 2      January 17, 2011

A key issue is the workers’ demand that the existing gap in insurance benefits between full-time and seasonal temporary workers be closed. Some 48 of these so-called seasonal employees work year-round. “Our goal is to overcome divisions and strengthen our union,” said Michel Murray of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

This is the first major strike organized by CUPE Local 2729 in more than three decades. Under provincial legislation some of the strikers are required to continue providing “essential services.” Strikers reported that wages earned by these workers are being shared with the other strikers.

“Why a strike now? Because we have never been so united and well organized,” said Rénald Dubé, president of the local. The strikers have received support from many other workers in Quebec. “Solidarity is key,” Dubé said.

—Michel Dugré and John Steele

Sky Chef workers protest
in Minnesota food plant
MINNEAPOLIS—Forty workers confronted the general manager inside the cafeteria at the Sky Chefs food catering plant at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport December 16. The workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 17, wanted to present demands against speedup and for sanitary conditions that would protect themselves and airplane passengers who eat the food they produce.

UNITE HERE represents 6,600 Sky Chef workers in the United States and Canada. The company supplies food to more than 300 airlines around the world.

At first the workers were told the manager was too busy to talk with them. “We want Bill, we want Bill,” the workers said loudly, using the name of the manager. He then rapidly appeared and agreed to set a meeting time.

Most of the workers were drivers and driver helpers, angered by numerous disciplinary write-ups of their coworkers. Many other factors have angered Sky Chefs workers. In 2005 Sky Chefs cut wages and benefits by 30 percent. This month health-care premiums are rising to more than $500 per month for family plans. Average wages are $10 per hour. Negotiations between the union and company have dragged on since the previous contract ended a year ago.

Just before Christmas the company distributed $10 gift cards. Eight day-shift workers in the sanitation department refused to take the cards. Some workers did likewise in the transportation and beverage departments. Such a small gift is an insult, was the sentiment of many.

—Tom Fiske, member of
UNITE HERE Local 17 at Sky Chef

Iowa: Locked-out workers
approve Titan Tire contract
DES MOINES, Iowa—United Steelworkers Local 164 members here approved a contract with Titan Tire December 23. Company chairman and CEO Morry Taylor announced December 17 he had made his “final, last and best offer.” He then broke off negotiations and locked out workers at plants in Freeport, Illinois; Bryan, Ohio; and Des Moines.

The new contract is for two years with a wage freeze. There is a significant increase in workers’ medical and dental payments.

Rob Shelton, a worker with 20 years at the plant, told the Des Moines Register, “I can’t say I like this contract very much, and it’s pretty tough to have to vote just a couple of days before Christmas.”

In 1998 Titan workers here began a strike that lasted 40 months. Many of the workers hired to break that strike stayed at Titan and subsequently joined the union.

—Helen Meyers

Illinois: Titan workers reject
contract, but return to work
FREEPORT, Illinois—A majority of workers at Titan Tire’s plant here and in Bryan, Ohio, rejected the company’s “final, last and best offer” during a December 23 contract vote. Workers at the Titan plant in Des Moines approved the pact.

Workers had set up spirited round-the-clock picket lines during the lockout, which the company began the week before Christmas. The plant here employs more than 500 workers making tires for farm machinery, mining, and construction equipment.

“They want us to accept a contract that includes forced 12-hour shifts,” said Rickey Stidman, a worker in the mold and bladder department with 33 years at the plant. “And on top of that we could be forced to work up to 72 hours a week.”

“Their contract would also mean we have to pay $80 a week for medical benefits, or $320 a month,” Jim Lawson, a millwright with 18 years in the plant, said.

After the vote Titan Tire ended the lockout. The company asserted that negotiations had reached an impasse and that it now had the right to impose its contract on the union. United Steelworkers officials announced there would be no strike action at this time and that union members would return to work at all three plants.

—Betsy Farley
 
 
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